


Cloud Strife, Avenger

by DeathRainbows



Series: Cloud Strife, Avenger [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Also uhh Language warning, But he’ll make friends, Cloud has terrible social skills and wants to go home, Gen, I wanted more Thor but whatever, ITS FINALLY DONE, I’ve never written action scenes but I think I did alright, Loki is Smug Always, Loki thinks Cloud is pretty and that’s all I have to say about that, Minor Plot Changes to Avengers (2012), Put a shirt on Bruce, THS SEQUEL IS OUT, Where’s that meme of the muscly guys flexing, it was kind of miserable sometimes tbh, multiple POVs, thats Cloud and Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24033214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathRainbows/pseuds/DeathRainbows
Summary: Cloud’s been stuck on Earth for awhile now and he wants to go home. Unfortunately, Loki has other plans, and Cloud is forced to work with people who he fondly calls ‘replacement teammates’ if he ever wants to get back to Gaia. Between being an anti-social super soldier and the team loner, Cloud has to learn how to play nice if he wants to save Earth with his new comrades. Who knows? Maybe he might make friends.
Relationships: Cloud Strife & The Avengers
Series: Cloud Strife, Avenger [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636276
Comments: 32
Kudos: 191





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I wrote this is a 3 day spree, and I present it fully complete for your reading pleasure. Now, I’m not going to make any promises, but if I see enough support I may or may not continue this series. Leave a kudos and a comment if you enjoyed. I don’t care if it says “nice story bro” you bet ur ass I’m still gonna be thrilled you took the time. Anyway, hope everybody has a nice reading! Even if the action scenes were a pain in the neck :)
> 
> Edited: 7/26/20 Most, if not all grammatical mistakes should be taken care of.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It begins.
> 
> -I just want to add something here: Yes, I did use some of the script from the movie. I watched scenes side by side while I wrote so I could tweak things here and there and stay true to the plot, since its been awhile since I watched it. I’m sorry if it’s too copy-and-paste for you, but I really did try to make this an original product.

Bullets whizzed past Cloud’s face, nearly deafening to his enhanced senses, but he was far too used to such noise to let it bother him. The glistening golden sand beneath the bike’s black tires was slippery, almost abnormally so, and the dry air scratched his throat if he breathed too deeply. Still, Cloud refused to ruminate on the miserable climate (despite the memories of home it brought up) and kept his mind focused on one thing: His mission. 

Working for the government of this world, while humiliating and frankly, annoying, at least helped him scour the globe for ways home. Truthfully, Cloud wanted little more than to see his friends again, but he was more than lost on ways to do so. He was forced to rely on S.H.I.E.L.D., which had to be one of the sketchiest organizations other than Shinra that Cloud had had the displeasure of meeting. S.H.I.E.L.D. was one of the most powerful organizations on this planet, it seemed, and as such they had access to information the public didn’t. Cloud was no stranger to corruption in the system, and it seemed to him that any organization that allowed human experimentation (no, he hadn’t forgotten _that_ condition they had tried to force him into) was about as trustworthy as Rufus Shinra himself. Although they paid for many of his things, such as his apartment and clothing, Cloud refused to eat anything they offered him. When he could, he always bought his own food, and when he couldn’t, such as this mission, well… Tifa could scold him later.

As another bullet nearly skimmed across his face, Cloud sighed internally. He really needed to work on paying attention. The barricades were fast approaching in front of him, soldiers crouched behind them, hoping for a lucky shot. There was no such thing with Cloud. He revved the engine of the motorbike, gunning for a gap in the sandbags lines up in front of him. He pulled on the handlebars with one hand, _hard_ , and swung a piece of Tsurugi in front of him. The sandbags, slashed wide open, vomited a dusty brown dirt onto the golden grains below. Cloud plowed through the defenses, scaring the soldiers behind them into a screaming frenzy as they tried to ready their weapons in time. He swung at a couple to keep them away from the bike, slicing through the rifles as though they were butter. Still, he kept his eyes on the base in front of him, speeding up and zigzagging to avoid any more bullets. 

The entrance quickly approached, a black yawning hole, seemingly out of place on the wooden building. Cloud glanced behind him to make sure the soldiers were far away, then slowed down and dismounted the motorbike. He carefully parked it next to the entrance and assembled First Tsurugi into it’s true form. Cloud assumed an offensive stance and crept into the gloom. The air was somehow cool despite the arid weather behind him, which only led to make him more weary. It was as though he were entering a dungeon.

Cloud continued straight, keeping his goal in mind. S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent him here for one thing and one thing only. Cloud slowly walked throughout the whole base, increasing his pace frequently, but something was wrong. For some reason it appeared the base was almost completely devoid of security.

 _Are the men outside really their entire force?_ Cloud suddenly slowed from his light jog, placing his boots down lightly so as to not make noise in the echo-prone hallways. His ears picked up the discrete whispers of men, a few doors down the corridor. He was soon close enough to hear their conversation. Unfortunately for them, he didn’t care enough to keep listening. Quickly and quietly, he snuck into the room and knocked them all out with the hilt and sometimes flat of his blade. Cloud dragged them all into a groaning pile and glanced around, looking for the documents he was sent to get.

 _There_. Sitting innocently on the table was a manilla folder that was supposedly of utmost importance to S.H.I.E.L.D. Personally, Cloud suspected they had only sent him out here to get him out of the way. Nothing had come up so far regarding the “Avengers” Fury had mentioned, and Cloud’s citizenship documents were still processing, so he had been staying at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters until he was a legal resident of “America”, able purchase a place of his own. Not that he planned on staying in this world long enough for _that_ to happen. Shaking his head, he scooped up the documents and headed back outside.

The soldiers he had left outside were gone by the time Cloud emerged. He didn’t know where they went, and he didn’t care, so long as they stayed out of the way. He clicked on the walkie-talkie radio clipped onto the motorbike they had lent him (which had nothing on Fenrir, in his opinion).

“Strife reporting in. Mission objective obtained. Returning to base. Requesting pick up.” He said. 

Silence.

 _What’s going on?_ He wondered, staring at the black radio curiously. “Strife reporting in. Mission objective obtained. Returning to base. Requesting pickup.” 

Silence again. Cloud huffed in irritation and ran a hand through his windblown hair, which had unfortunately picked up copious amounts of soil and sand from his trip over. The midday sun beat down on his neck, and if he wasn’t out of here soon he would get sunburn.

 _This sucks._ He tried once more, with the same result. _Maybe they’re busy…_ But they had been keeping a close eye on him the past few weeks. There was virtually no reason for them to suddenly ignore him. _Unless there’s trouble at base… Shit, I left my Materia there!_ Cloud groaned.

“Perfect,” he grunted sourly, annoyed at the whole situation. He resigned himself to going back to base by motorbike (maybe he could hitch a ride in town?) and swung his leg over the seat, revving the engine. He replaced the pair of borrowed goggles over his eyes and drove off, kicking up a storm of dust as he went.


	2. Enter Loki

The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., better known as Nick Fury to his close associates, stared in shock as Hawkeye slid his gun back into its holster, body language relaxed as he stood to attention. The other man, dressed in regal green and silver, smirked and clenched his hand more tightly around the glowing golden spear held at his side. Fury didn’t often find himself at a loss for what to do, but now was one of those situations. His one good eye slid to the Tesseract, nestled snugly in the analyzer. He carefully pulled it out and slid it into the case held in his other hand. He attempted to walk quietly away, but the man in green, who had seemed quite preoccupied the moment before, spoke in a low voice, “Please don’t. I still need that.”

Fury froze. He was unwilling to lose his life, but he would do everything in his power to protect the Tesseract. “This doesn’t have to get any messier.” He replied quickly.

“Of course it does,” The other man responded. “I’ve come too far for anything else.”

Fury turned around. The other man appeared slightly insane, eyes wide and intense. “I am Loki,” he said, “Of Asgard.” Fury didn’t let his surprise show on his face, though Dr. Erik Selvig did. “I am burdened…” he continued, “With glorious purpose.”

“Loki-” Dr. Selvig said, clearly shocked, “Brother of Thor!” 

Loki narrowed his eyes at him, but Fury interrupted before things got any nastier. “We have no quarrel with your people.”

“An ant has no quarrel with a boot.” Loki replied nonchalantly.

“So you plan to step on us?” Fury questioned.

“I come with glad tidings,” Loki explained, striding forward elegantly towards Fury. “Of a world made free.”

Fury narrowed his good eye. “Free from what?”

“Freedom.” Loki said, as though he were explaining something to a particularly dumb child. “Freedom is life’s great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart-” Loki whirled on Dr. Selvig, pressing his golden spear to the old man’s chest, his expression clearly that of a fervent believer in the cause, “You will know peace.”

“You say peace,” Fury said sourly, “I kind of think you mean the other thing.”

“Sir, Fury is stalling,” Hawkeye said to Loki, damn him. “This place is about to drop-”

“What’s the problem?” A voice asked near the laboratory entrance. Fury’s eyes widened.

“Strife, get out of here!” He warned. Strife took no heed of his words, instead studying Loki carefully, glowing blue eyes jumping around the destroyed lab and the bodies laying miserably on the floor, blood pooling from stab wounds or slices across the throat.

“Who are you?” Strife asked, already unsheathing his sword. 

Loki was staring at him appraisingly, eyes roving up and down his body, clearly studying his worth as a pawn. “I could ask the same question.”

“His name’s Loki,” Fury interrupted. At the risk of taking his eye off of Loki, he stared Strife dead in the eyes. “I’m trusting you’ll take care of him.” Strife nodded, though he kept his eyes on the targets. Fury’s eye shot back to the intruder, alert and on guard. If he could stall a little longer-

“The portal’s going to collapse in on itself. We’ve got maybe two minutes before this place goes critical.” Dr. Selvig warned Loki, peering at his computer. Loki eyed Strife once more, then shrugged. “Well then.”

Without any warning, Hawkeye shot Fury, dead in the chest.

\---

Cloud grimaced, lips pressing into a thin white line. _Don’t think of him, don’t think of him-_

Still, he kept his eyes on Loki. The alarms blared all around them. Upon seeing that Loki was momentarily distracted, he ultimately decided that if this place was going to collapse he wanted his Materia. He turned around on the overhanging balcony, where Hawkeye’s wire still hung down, and pushed open the emergency exit, making his way to the apartments located on the top floor as quickly as he could. _60 seconds left._

He burst into his room, and with a speed that came from both his enhancements and what seemed like a lifetime of being on the run, unslung his mission pack and dumped most of it on the bed. He pulled open the drawer that held his usual outfit, shoved the clothing into his bag, grabbed his Materia from the nightstand (what was he thinking, anyone could have easily stolen it), and bagged the necessary toiletries from the bathroom. In order to not waste anymore time, he kicked the window, easily shattering the glass, closed his eyes, and leapt. He probably had about 30 seconds left. 

It took him longer than he would have liked to pick himself up from the pavement. Thankfully most S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities seemed to be about three stories tall, not counting the lower levels, or he would have been little more than that pancake he still wanted. A bullet embedded itself into the pavement beside his hand, and Cloud was only just quick enough to spot a truck, most likely carrying Hawkeye, pull over a ridge and onto the main road. Not willing to be left behind, Cloud searched for his motorbike in the nearly empty parking lot. Although it would be low on gas, hopefully it would be enough to get him out of here. He flipped the ignition (thank god Hawkeye hadn’t shot at the tires) and climbed on, silently sending out a bare-bones prayer for Fury. The tires squealed on the pavement as the building rumbled behind him, but Cloud paid the noise no attention as he willed the bike to go faster, faster, faster. The truck was nowhere in sight as he got over the ridge, but Cloud was too worried to care. He had barely gotten to a ‘safe’ distance in the desert before a low rumbling started behind him. Cloud sped up as best he could, but he could still feel the heat behind him, creeping onto his back until it smothered his body, causing him to start sweating intensely despite the mako in his veins. He swallowed thickly, but soon enough he could no longer feel the explosion or the heat, and so he slowed back down until the bike stopped itself. _Out of gas._

Cloud rested one leg on the ground and turned around. He had to squint against the receding light, but it appeared the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. complex was gone. He stifled a sigh. _Where am I supposed to live now?_

To Cloud’s surprise, his eyes picked up a helicopter appeared in the distance. It seemed to be following something. _That man… Loki?_

Perhaps Cloud may have followed the helicopter, but the decision was made for him by the empty gas tank. He slung his pack over his shoulder and dismounted, preparing for a trek into town. He glanced once more behind him, causing him to do a double take at the now flaming helicopter in the sky. _What in the world…?_

 _Loki must be powerful if he’s able to take down a helicopter single-handedly,_ Cloud thought, _I was able to take down four, but I’m a SOLDIER. I should also factor in his weapon… that spear. This keeps getting stranger and stranger…_ Cloud once again lost himself in thought. What was in the briefcase Fury had been holding? Who in Gaia’s name _was_ Loki?

Cloud stood quietly in the desert, unmoving for some time. After a while he sat down in the dirt, dead tired after the events of the day. The next town would probably be some ways off, so Cloud supposed he better get moving soon.

Thankfully he hadn’t walked very far before one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s trucks drove up next to him. He paused his trek and slightly raised an eyebrow as Coulson dismounted from the back.

“Cloud!” He called. Cloud remained silent, but his eyebrow raised higher as he took in Coulson’s clean profile. Coulson smiled amiably, “Good to see you made it out.”

“Same to you,” Cloud responded truthfully. Out of everyone who worked at S.H.I.E.L.D., Cloud admitted (but only to himself) that he probably liked Coulson the most. Despite the fact they had started off a little rocky, Coulson had always been patient and kind when Cloud’s awful social skills kicked in. If there was a problem, Cloud usually told Coulson over anybody else. However, that didn’t necessarily mean he trusted him.

After an awkward silence, Cloud averted his eyes. “I have the… stuff.”

Coulson raised an eyebrow. “Stuff?”

Cloud dug around in his bag before pulling out the manilla folder and handing it to Coulson. “Here.” Coulson quickly flipped through, nodding at whatever the documents read. Cloud hadn’t bothered to scrutinize them himself, since he had been a little too annoyed to bother snooping.

“Ah, thank you. Now, do you need a ride?”

Cloud took the needless pretense of glancing around. “Yeah.”

Coulson grinned and patted him on the back. Cloud flinched but kept his expression neutral. “Let’s go, then.”


	3. Soldier, meet SOLDIER

“I’ve sent Natasha to get the big guy, so you, my friend, are coming with me.” Coulson said. Cloud nodded. He didn’t know Natasha, and at this point he was nervous to ask. Everyone on the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft carrier spoke her name in a hushed whisper, the legendary Black Widow that everybody seemed to know but him. Cloud was curious to finally be able to meet her soon, but every time somebody spoke her name in reverent admiration he was unfortunately reminded of Sephiroth.

“Where’re we goin’?” He asked Coulson as they approached a small plane. Coulson had an odd smile on his face, as though he were thinking fondly of someone. 

“We’re going to meet Steve Rogers, Captain America himself.” 

Cloud eyed him, but he felt it would be strange to ask who that was. It was as though everybody on the carrier knew the other Avengers besides himself. He had heard their names here or there, but he had never seen a photo, much less talked to any of them. 

Despite Cloud’s silence, Coulson seemed to pick up on his curiosity. “He helped stop the Nazi experiments in World War II, almost single-handedly.” Coulson clearly spoke with admiration in his voice.

Cloud asked quietly, “So he’s military?” 

Coulson raised an eyebrow at him. “The ‘Captain’ part should have tipped you off.”

Cloud ducked his head, embarrassed. Yeah, that should have tipped him off. “Oh… right.”

Coulson clapped him on the shoulder. “He’s a super soldier. Great guy. I’m sure you’ll like him.”

Cloud disliked the physical contact, but that thought flew out the window after the latter part of Coulson’s sentence. “A super soldier?” He asked, faintly, hesitantly. He didn’t really want an answer.

Coulson raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, a super soldier.”

Cloud’s lungs felt like they were full of cotton. “Oh.” He breathed. Then this world… did it have mako too? Maybe he wasn’t as far from home as he thought. He shook his head, deciding to reserve judgement until he met Steve Rogers. Perhaps they could have a spar, so Cloud could test his strength. Maybe he had been enhanced in a different way.

The ride over the sea took nearly two hours. Cloud sat still, but Coulson wrung his hands. Whether he was excited or nervous, Cloud couldn’t tell. The small plane finally landed in an ‘airport’ as the people on this world called it. Cloud thought it was rather strange that planes were used for commercial use in this world, rather than strictly military transport. He jolted in his seat as the plane finally landed on the asphalt. Cloud stood up and stretched, adjusting First Tsurugi’s harness so as to not poke Coulson’s eye out. Coulson remained in high spirits as they disembarked and began searching the airport for Steve Rogers. 

“There he is!” Coulson… was that a squeal? Cloud shook his head in befuddlement and followed him towards a well-built blonde man, broad chested and with muscled arms. Cloud nearly stopped in his tracks because Steve Rogers was _exactly what he had envisioned himself as_ when he was a child. Well, minus the hair. Cloud’s hair had never been that tame, even when it had been short. He felt a brief stab of jealousy as he studied him. Cloud’s body had never developed like that when he grew up. Instead he had remained lean rather than brawny, short rather than tall, and pretty rather than chiseled. Still, Cloud _was_ thankful that he was easily able to outspeed his opponents, and that they often underestimated him. It was a key weakness he often exploited.

Steve Rogers had a serious face, but his eyes were kinder than his expression. He didn’t smile as Coulson approached, and regarded Cloud warily, but he wasn’t uncourteous. “Steve Rogers,” He stuck his hand out, “Pleased to meet you.”

Coulson’s hand was already extended before he reached him. “Agent Coulson, of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Steve’s eyes shifted to Cloud, hand remaining outstretched. “And you?” 

Cloud considered him a moment, unsure what to think. He didn’t like touching people. “Cloud Strife.” He finally said. Given the whole situation, Cloud considered himself lucky he hadn’t lapsed and added, ‘SOLDIER, First Class’ onto the end of his introduction. _That_ would have been embarrassing (not to mention a _lie_ ).

Steve retracted his hand, watching Cloud funnily. 

“What?” Cloud asked, flustered.

“Nothing.” Steve said. He turned to Coulson. “We have somewhere to be, right?”

Coulson nodded and they shuffled through the crowds, back to the private plane. Cloud tried to avoid getting jostled (or jostling anyone with the giant sword strapped to his back), which inadvertently drew Steve’s attention to it. 

Cloud noticed Steve kept trying to seem as though he wasn’t staring at First Tsurugi, but he was failing miserably. Despite himself, Cloud felt a faint blush rise to his cheeks. He tried to keep his eyes set straight ahead, but seriously, Captain America was actually _gaping_. Cloud had never done will with these types of situations. He wasn’t sure what to say, so as they finally got to the hanger, he averted his eyes and mumbled, “Do you… like it?”

Steve’s eyes flicked to Cloud’s face, then to the large hilt of First Tsurugi. “It’s… something.”

Cloud was just barely able to refrain from rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. _I hate talking to people._

Coulson pretended like he hadn’t heard Cloud’s terrible attempts at conversation and led the way back onto the plane with a skip in his step. Cloud was further distressed by Coulson’s clear hero worship of Captain America, which unfortunately distinctly reminded him of his own misplaced faith in Sephiroth. He prayed to Gaia that Steve would turn out much, _much_ differently.

Once they finally boarded the aircraft, Coulson handed Steve a few documents, leaving Cloud to sit awkwardly in silence while everyone else did something. _Why am I even here? Just to suffer?_ Cloud glanced at Coulson curiously. _Does he think that the Captain and I will get along because we both have military backgrounds? No, wait, he doesn’t know anything about me..._

No matter how often S.H.I.E.L.D. had prodded, Cloud remained tight-lipped about his past. Fury seemed content that he wasn’t attacking this planet, called Earth, but he still tried to get answers out of him whenever he had the chance. _But, if I’m going to start working with the other Avengers, as a combative team, then maybe I should start opening up more._ It was going to be difficult, getting accustomed to working with people other than his friends, and even more difficult to come to trust them. Cloud doubted it would be possible, and even just thinking of fighting with a whole new team just made him ache for home even more. He wondered how everyone was doing. He missed them, more than he could probably ever express. Working with the other Avengers would never be the same as working with AVALANCHE.

“We’re about forty minutes out from home base.” One of the pilots said. Cloud relaxed a bit, until Coulson took off his headset. Steve was frowning deeply, clearly troubled by whatever he had read.

“So this… Dr. Banner, he tried replicating the serum they used on me?” Steve asked Coulson. Cloud leant forward a bit, although he wouldn’t even pretend he wasn’t listening.

“A lot of people were,” Coulson explained, “You were the world’s first superhero.” Cloud winced imperceptibly as Steve turned back to the documents. _The parallels to Sephiroth continue._

“We thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula,” Coulson continued. 

At the risk of sounding stupid, Cloud asked, “What’s gamma radiation?”

Steve looked up at him, eyebrow raised, and Coulson regarded him curiously. “Gamma radiation. High energy radiation.”

Cloud looked away, slightly embarrassed, even though he _knew_ he had no reason to be. “Right.” He disliked not knowing things about this world. Cloud decided that now was as good a time as any to ‘make friends’ with his teammates. “It’s… uh… where I come from, we have something similar, I’m- well, I’m not, but- there was a program. Called SOLDIER. It was a military group made of super soldiers. They had a formula using mako… but I don’t think your planet has anything like it.”

Steve jerked his head sharply. “A whole group of super soldiers?”

Cloud met his gaze, confident in something he knew (for once). “Yes. I think I remember that, in its prime, it had maybe… a hundred? Two hundred? Total. They were separated by how ‘super’ they were. First Class was the best. Second Class was under that, then Third Class for the lowest level. First Class could… take on a whole army, by themself.”

Coulson and Steve exchanged glances. Coulson watched Cloud warily. “This is the first I’m hearing of something like this.”

Cloud shrugged dismissively. “It’s not really relevant on Earth. That’s the only reason I’m telling you is because I know you can’t copy it.”

Steve seemed to relax for the first time since boarding. He nodded at Cloud. “I can respect that.”

Coulson wasn’t dissuaded. “And you, Cloud- are you a SOLDIER?”

Cloud tried not to feel affronted. He shifted uncomfortably and tried to keep a neutral face. This was something deeply personal to him, but he was done lying about it. “I thought I was, for awhile. But no.”

Coulson and Steve exchanged glances, eyeing First Tsurugi. Cloud wanted to end the discussion, but Coulson inquired, “And the sword?”

Cloud crossed his arms, leant back and looked away. “I’m done talking about this.”

Coulson scratched his head and Steve seemed as though he wanted to ask something else, but ultimately they returned to their previous discussion. Steve ran a hand down his face as he reread the notes, as though he was having a hard time believing what they read.

“Banner,” Steve finally said, grabbing both Cloud and Coulson’s attention, “It didn’t really go his way, did it?”

Coulson held onto a support wire as the plane hit turbulence, his expression unreadable. “Not so much. He’s got a thing though- he’s like a Stephen Hawking.”

At both Cloud and Steve’s blank expression, Coulson clarified, “Like a smart person.”

After a few moments of silence, Cloud raised an eyebrow as Coulson appeared to blush. “I gotta say,” he said to Steve, “It’s an honor to meet you. Officially.”

Steve had a smile on his face that looked about as awkward as Cloud felt. 

“I mean, I’ve met you before,” Coulson continued, and at Steve’s blank expression, he added, “I watched you while you were sleeping.”

Steve froze, the smile still plastered on, and Cloud quietly scooted away from Coulson. The two former soldiers glanced at each other to avoid Coulson’s awkward stare. Cloud felt a smile twitch on his lips and nearly laughed. Steve simply seemed uncomfortable.

Steve got up, ignoring Coulson’s attempts at recovery, and Cloud settled for coughing awkwardly into his fist. “I mean, I was present when you were unconscious, from, you know, the ice, and well...Anyway, it’s just an honor to have you onboard.” Coulson finished.

Steve resumed his serious expression. He seemed to be troubled. Cloud was curious about Steve’s past, but he knew enough about privacy not to pry, though it seemed to be common knowledge among S.H.I.E.L.D. “I just hope I’m the man for the job.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Coulson said with utmost confidence. “We made some modifications to your uniform- I had a little design input.”

 _Dear Gaia,_ Cloud thought, _it keeps getting worse the longer he keeps talking._ Maybe he would have to reevaluate his opinion of Coulson. Find somebody a little less… creepy, to talk to about his toiletry problems.

“The uniform?” Steve asked. “The one with the stars, and the stripes? Isn’t that a little old-fashioned?”

Steve glanced at Cloud’s outfit. Cloud shifted in his seat, uncomfortable under scrutiny. 

“I like yours.” Steve said in response to his unspoken question. 

Cloud didn’t look at him, but nodded. “Thanks.”

Coulson watched the exchange but said, “With the things that are happening… the things that are coming to life… People might just need a little old-fashioned.”

Steve didn’t respond, and the rest of the journey to base continued in silence.

\---

Loki was shaken by his encounter with Ronan, though he refused to show it. He kept a hand clenched tightly around the spear. He schooled his expression into something hard to read and watched his pawns’ progress on the machine. 

_This cannot fail. I will not let this fail. Because if it does… they’re going to kill me._


	4. Solitary Threats

As Cloud disembarked, he took a second to appreciate the machinery of the plane. Cid would have liked this, and even Cloud could appreciate the impressive technology of it, though it was nothing compared to the Highwind, and even more so the Shera.

A red haired woman in the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform approached the aircraft with confident strides. She easily distinguished herself from the bustling crowd. Cloud was already feeling cramped on the deck, not to mention his motion sickness had apparently decided to kick in during the latter half of the flight back. Coulson smiled genially. “Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Rogers and Cloud Strife.”

Natasha gave both of them a dismissive glance before turning to Coulson. “Hi,” she said, “They need you on the bridge. They’re starting the face-trace.”

Coulson nodded. “Right. See you there.” He began to leave, but Cloud grabbed his wrist. Coulson appeared startled, but Cloud was too anxious to care. He shot a glance at Natasha and Steve, before asking Coulson, “What am I supposed to do?”

“Make friends.” Coulson said, as though it were obvious Cloud was supposed to voluntarily socially interact. Cloud let go and he walked away, leaving Cloud both frustrated he had done that and awkward because there was nowhere to go. The aircraft carrier was out at sea, for Gaia’s sake, and even though Cloud had crowded onto the Tiny Bronco with everyone, those were his _friends_. Everyone here was a stranger, or worse… Cloud shot a glance at Natasha and Steve, who were shooting furtive glances at him - people who were supposed to be replacing his friends.

Cloud tried to go find somewhere to be alone, despite Natasha trying to catch his attention. 

“Hey, pretty boy!” She called. Cloud ignored her and continued towards the command deck. Surely there would be an empty hallway where he could be alone for a while?

“Strife!” Steve tried, “Cloud!”

Cloud kept up his pace. He was done for today. Maybe he could practice a few spells? If he was back home, he would kill some monsters to work off his nerves, but there weren’t any monsters on Earth. It seemed to only be humans and animals. _Could it be from the lack of mako?_ He idly wondered. He was distracted enough that he nearly missed the low sweep from behind him. Cloud instinctively jumped over it, reflexively drawing his sword and nearly slicing Natasha’s neck. She was frozen as the cold steel met her neck, a blood droplet beading and falling. 

“Tch.” Cloud sheathed his sword. His mood fell even more. Steve was already running towards them, but Cloud turned away. “I don’t appreciate back attacks. Especially not if we’re going to try to be friends.”

Natasha was unmoved from his attack, merely crossing her arms to consider him closely. “We’re not here to be friends. We’re here to be teammates.” She narrowed her eyes. “At least I know you’re a competent one.”

Cloud turned away. Steve was quiet, at a loss for what to do. 

“Strife!” Natasha called, “You can’t leave yet! You’ve got to meet the rest of us.”

Without looking back, Cloud said, “Not interested.”

Cloud entered headquarters and set about finding a quiet place to rest. He found one in the lower hallways, which while somewhat busy were nothing compared to the upper levels. He took off his sword harness and slid down the wall, resting his forearms on his knees as he relished the relative quiet. He was never good with crowds. 

_So that’s Natasha…_ Cloud’s mind belatedly caught up with the events of the day. He rested his head against the wall and ran a hand through his hair. _This is going to be more difficult than I thought._

Cloud glanced at his materia before pulling out a fully mastered Fire. He had never been good with precise control, mostly just pouring in his MP and hoping for brute force. _Well, no better time than the present,_ he mused. He gave the materia a bit of power, and a small flame came to life in the palm of his hand. He tried to will it into different shapes, then into a spiral, then into a double helix. He failed on the last one, but mentally shrugged, slightly proud of himself. He did, however, almost accidently let out a Fire3 when Fury seemed to just _appear_ in front of him. A pregnant silence filled the hallway.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Cloud finally asked. He wasn’t even shocked by strange resurrections at this point.

“Strife.” Fury said, ignoring his question. His one eye gleamed and narrowed. “Do you remember our deal?”

Cloud carefully slotted the Fire, then stood up and put his harness back on, watching Fury warily. “Yeah, I do.”

“What were my conditions, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Cloud let out a noncommittal noise. “I’ve got to become a citizen of Earth, and I’ve got to sign on to the Avengers initiative.”

Fury appeared to consider this a moment, before he said slowly, as though Cloud were throwing a tantrum, “And do you remember what those documents said?”

Cloud crossed his arms. “I have to defend Earth for as long as I am here. And I have to work with the other Avengers to form a, in your words, ‘ass kicking’ team.” It sounded so silly.

“Now Strife,” Fury continued, “ _Why_ aren’t you fulfilling your side of the deal?”

Cloud nearly growled, but settled for grinding his teeth together. “I’m just taking a break.”

Fury put a hand to his chin. “You know, Strife, I just don’t think that’s going to cut it. Next time I see you alone, you better have a god damned _great_ reason. Now, we have… suspicions Loki is going to be in Germany within the next couple hours. _Don’t_ make me chase you down again. Get to the bridge.”

Cloud scowled, but did as he was told. He _hated_ being under Fury’s boot, but Fury was still his best shot at going home. So he climbed the stairs, all the while thinking of how miserable the next few minutes were going to be. 

Cloud had managed to get rid of the rest of his motion sickness and nerves during his practice with the Fire materia. Once he arrived on the bridge, he didn’t bother trying to be nice, instead keeping his expression flat as he leaned against the wall, farthest from the rest of the team. They kept glancing his direction, but Cloud ignored the looks and closed his eyes.

“Captain, Strife. You’re being deployed.” Coulson said. Cloud pushed off from the wall and made his way to the deck. At least he would be working with the Captain, who so far had proved very different from Sephiroth. He wasn’t cold, or calculating, and that was enough (for now).


	5. Of Gods and Kings

Loki had apparently come to Germany to steal some sort of rare and highly desired element. Cloud didn’t care. What he did care about was Loki’s speech to the people that he forced to kneel before him. The main message was that they should be _happy_ to lose their freedom and autonomy. It made Cloud sick to his stomach. (“ _Puppet_...“)

Needless to say, Cloud was disliking Loki more by the minute.

“You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” Loki said, sweeping his hands grandly, his horned helmet shining in the streetlight. He spoke as though it were fact, as though it was so incredibly stupid for any of them to think differently. Cloud could barely restrain himself from jumping into the fray, because no, they had to wait to surprise Loki. The problem was that he kept seeing a man with silver hair in place of the ‘god’ in front of him. Cloud knew that if he could kill Sephiroth three times he should be able to easily dispatch Loki. The only problem was that staff.

One brave citizen stood up, squaring his withered, rounded shoulder and glaring at Loki with distaste. “Not to men like you. Never to men like you.”

Loki merely kept a look on his face that suggested calmness, but Cloud had enough experience to know it meant he was boiling on the inside. A bright smile erupted on his face, stretching Loki’s cheeks unnaturally wide. “There are no men like me.”

Cloud couldn’t restrain himself any longer. He had hit his limit. Within less than a second he was behind Loki, sword high over his head as he leapt out from behind the pillar. There was a satisfying _clang!_ And Cloud could feel Loki’s helmet give way-

Cloud tumbled to the ground and rolled back into an offensive stance, eyes darting around wildly. Although First Tsurugi was held up defensively, he was still unable to counterattack when he felt the press of cold steel across his neck.

 _How? How? How?_ Was his only thought as Loki circled in front of him, a smug expression right at home on his face. It looked far more natural than his smile. Cloud glared, his eyes shining in the darkness. Loki lifted up a hand to his face. Cloud would have smacked him, but that strange spear of his was held closely to his neck, and Cloud knew if he moved even an inch it would slice into his flesh. The mako would quickly repair the fatal wound, but it would take a few minutes for him to recover. That was more time than he could afford.

 _Where are you, Captain?_ Cloud’s eyes roved around the dark square. He could hear all of the people’s breaths as they watched the display nervously. “Your eyes…” Loki said appraisingly, “They’re quite beautiful.”

Cloud gritted his teeth, trying to think of a way to maneuver First Tsurugi for easy decapitation. 

“What, no ‘thank you’?” Loki asked, amusement shining in his eyes. His eyes took in Cloud, from his shock of blond hair to his dark boots. He lingered on his earring and his face, before he turned back to the crowd. Cloud glanced around, almost desperately. Now would be a really great time for AVALANCHE to show up. But they wouldn’t, because he was stuck on another planet, with another Sephiroth, with a group of people who were supposed to be replacing his friends and who _weren’t even backing him up._

“Look!’ Loki said joyfully, “Look at this man! Is he the best Earth has to offer? Is this the shape of your hope? I don’t think so.” He turned back to Cloud and continued to stare at him appraisingly. Cloud suspected he was thinking about whether to make an example out of him or to make him a pawn. What to do....

 _Of course!_ Why hadn’t he thought of this before? A smirk fell over Cloud’s lips and his eyes narrowed. Loki stared at him in confusion, before he suddenly yelled, “No-!”

“Fire3.” Cloud whispered. 

Loki went off like a fireworks display. He didn’t even scream. Cloud stepped back, watching appreciatively as the Fire3 did it’s work. He picked up Loki’s fallen staff, whirling it like a baton. The people began to whisper, then slowly got up, some clapping, some starting to cheer. 

_Wait… Something’s wrong. Loki_ _should_ _be screaming- no, where did he go?!_ Cloud looked wildly around the bustling square. _Had he somehow lost sight of-_ Cloud gasped in surprise as a piece of cold metal pushed into his side. He looked down and over, catching sight of the protruding golden tip of the dagger before Loki pulled it out, flicking the blood off and onto the pavement. He looked a bit singed, but otherwise fine. 

_I shouldn’t have let my guard down- it does usually takes more than one mastered magic attack to kill a boss…Shit!_ Cloud kneeled over, clutching his bleeding side. The mako was quickly knitting up the wound, and despite the lightheadedness from blood loss Cloud was able to roll out of the way to avoid Loki’s second strike, heaving up First Tsurugi one-handed and assuming a defensive stance.

Loki was grinning. 

“I really do like your spirit.” He breathed, entranced, before hefting up his spear and charging up an attack. Cloud hefted Tsurugi like a shield, but even as he took his other hand off of his wound to hold up the blade, the hilt became overly slippery with blood. He momentarily lost his grip and the sword dropped down just as Loki finished charging. There wasn’t enough time to cast an effective Barrier. Cloud’s eyes widened before he closed them, adjusting his blade as best he could and bracing for impact. 

The blast never came. With a loud _BANG!_ the blue light rebounded back towards Loki, hitting him full frontal. He fell on his face and the blue light dissipated, leaving Loki groaning loudly on the ground. 

“Get out here!” Captain America yelled at the crowd. Many quickly got to their feet, scrambling away while Loki picked himself up. He shook his head, likely to rid himself of dizziness, and narrowed his eyes at Steve.

“The soldier.” He said sourly.

The mako had nearly done its job, and Cloud was now well enough to continue fighting. Cloud held up First Tsurugi, coming up beside Steve to protect the citizens fleeing behind them. 

“Thank you.” Cloud said quietly, glancing at him from the corner of his eye.

Steve smiled. “No problem.”

Cloud took a moment to look at Steve’s uniform and nearly laughed. _The helmet… dear Gaia that’s corny._

Loki finally picked himself up and recovered his staff. “The man out of time.” He continued, scrutinizing Steve closely. There it was again- Wait. _Ice… Out of time…_ Cloud glanced at Steve, taking his eyes off Loki, and raised an eyebrow. _Cryogenics? Like the WEAPONS?_

“I don’t think I’m the one out of time.” Steve quipped. Cloud nearly rolled his eyes. Steve was _much_ farther from Sephiroth than Cloud had originally thought.

Cloud didn’t have to look behind him to hear the roar of the S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercraft. Natasha would be piloting it.

“Loki,” the speakers blasted, “Drop the weapon and stand down.”

Loki scowled, firing another energy blast. Natasha swerved the hovercraft out of the way as Cloud and Steve charged. Steve threw his shield like a frisbee, but it ricocheted off of Loki’s glimmering armor and flew back toward him. He caught it seamlessly as Cloud swung Tsurugi at Loki’s helmet. Loki simply disappeared into golden shimmering light, reappearing a few meters away. Cloud wasn’t going to be thrown off again. He cast Haste on himself, then on Steve, and ran towards Loki, this time swinging low in hopes of injuring a leg.

Loki, it seemed, was also prepared for anything. Despite Cloud’s Haste, he was able to get out of the way in time by pulling the same teleportation trick. Cloud grunted as Loki’s spear hit him in his injured side once again, but jumped over it when it came the second time. He blocked when Loki swung upwards, which left Steve with more than enough time to fling his shield at the back of Loki’s head. It hit with a resounding echo, startling Loki enough that Cloud was able to swing sideways and slice open Loki’s arm. Now Loki whirled on him, but Steve took it as another opportunity to attack, this time getting into close quarters. Loki snarled and dodged an incoming punch, blocking the rest with his spear. Still, he was backing up, losing ground. Cloud used the distraction cast Bolt2.

Loki grunted loudly as the lightning hit him, but it wasn’t as effective as Cloud had hoped. Unfortunately a few stray bolts had hit Steve as well, and Cloud quietly cursed as he was knocked away from Loki. Cloud was breathing slightly heavier than usual, but this was still nothing compared to Sephiroth. Loki circled him, Cloud keeping him at a distance by brandishing Tsurugi. Loki spared his sword a dismissive glance, raising his eyebrow mockingly. 

“Are you a mage or a swordsman, Strife?”

“Does it matter?” Cloud responded gruffly. 

“I suppose not. Though, I would have thought you would know Lightning wouldn’t work. My brother is Thor, after all.”

Cloud silently cursed at himself. He _should_ have considered that. Damn, he was getting sloppy. He saw Steve getting up in his peripheral, so Cloud turned his full attention to Loki in order to divert his attention.

“I’ve met a couple gods, you know. You don’t scare me.”

Loki scowled deeply. “Don’t I?”

He rushed forward, but both he and Cloud were distracted by a high-pitched whine coming from behind a few buildings. Cloud squinted into the darkness, peering closely but seeing nothing. “What-?”

A trail of sparks fell through the sky as a red-and-gold suit blasted right over his shoulder. He would have probably clipped Cloud’s ear if Cloud hadn’t been so nimble footed, but even though he managed to dodge out of the way he still stumbled from the force of the wind. _Is this an enemy or a friend?_

The suit slammed Loki with a beam of energy, and he went flying through the air for the umpteenth time that night. He hit the stairs of the auditorium with a painful crack. Cloud quickly adjusted to the flashy colors, suspicious of the music blasting from unseen speakers on the suit. Several high-tech weapons were primed and ready to fire in a matter of seconds. It was so different from anything on Cloud’s world, including Shinra tech, that he couldn’t help but stare. Almost everything Shinra built was like a tank, strong but slow and clunky. 

“Your move, Reindeer Games,” a low male voice threatened from the depths of the suit.

Loki held up his hands in surrender. _Maybe he broke a few godly bones from that fall._ His golden helmet and armor faded, leaving him in the green royal robes. 

“Good move,” the same voice said, this time a bit playfully. _Is this a game to these people?_ What was with all the quips?

“Mr. Stark,” Steve said, coming up beside the suit.

“Captain… and guy I don’t know.” ‘Mr. Stark’ greeted. 

Cloud nodded at him. He was a little in awe. Just a little. “Cloud.”

“What about clouds?”

Cloud frowned. “No, that’s my name.”

The suit seemed to shake a little, as though Stark was laughing. “Ah, that’s good. I’ll remember that. Now, let’s get this guy on board.”


	6. Anger Management and Antisocial Tendencies

Truthfully, Steve wasn’t sure what to think of Cloud Strife. He was clearly a soldier, and one from another world to boot. He definitely carried himself like a fighter, and he was proficient in both swordsmanship and magic (at least from what Steve had seen). But he was quiet, withdrawn, and guarded, which is something that wouldn’t have gotten him very far in any military. Steve wanted to befriend him. He was pretty sure Cloud already felt like an outcast within their not-yet-entirely formed group, which, from his own life experiences, Steve felt he could understand pretty well, although at least Steve grew up on Earth. Apparently Cloud had grown up somewhere else entirely.

Cloud also had an odd accent. Steve couldn’t place it, but it became more pronounced when Cloud got angry. It was definitely noticeable when he used words that didn’t quite fit into modern day slang. Like now.

“Could you take off that mask? It’s givin’ me the heebie jeebies.” Cloud said, eyeing Stark’s mask apprehensively. 

“Oh, the mask? The thing that protects my face in battle? You want me to take it off for you?” Stark replied sarcastically.

Steve felt himself get annoyed on Cloud’s behalf, and from the corner of his eye he saw Cloud grit his teeth and simply choose not to respond.

Stark shrugged from within his suit. “Alright, just for you then.”

He pulled off the metal helmet, revealing the face underneath. Steve wasn’t impressed. Cloud didn’t even deign to look at him.

“Really? Now you’re just ignoring me? Come on, I took it off to make _you_ feel better.”

Cloud glared at Stark. “Shut up. Put it back on if you’re going to be this annoying.”

Stark appeared to consider this for a moment, putting a hand to his chin. “You know, I don’t think I will. What I think, Thunderhead, is that you need to-”

“Just shut up, all of you!” Loki growled. He was clearly humiliated, and apparently the arguing wasn't doing any favors for his mood.

Natasha was up front with another pilot, but even with her headset on she said, “I agree with him. Sit down and be quiet, we’ll be back at base soon.”

“Fine by me,” Cloud grunted. Steve nodded, taking a seat next to him, which left Stark to sit next to Loki. 

A few minutes passed in silence. The tense mood in the air kept everyone alert, and even though Cloud had shut his eyes and was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, Steve could see his muscles flex every so often. There wasn’t much room to talk in the small space, but even so Steve caught Stark’s eyes and gestured to the back of the plane.

“I don’t like this,” Steve muttered.

“What, is the Rock of Ages giving up so easily?” Stark replied.

Steve remained serious. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. This guy packs a wallop.” He glanced at Loki, who was glaring at the two of them as though they were the scum of the Earth.

Even though Stark tried to remain nonchalant about the whole affair, Steve could see he was obviously on edge. “Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow.”

It took Steve a moment to recognize the backhanded compliment. He furrowed his brows, but before he could respond Cloud interrupted. 

“Could you two sit down? You’re making me sick just watching you.”

Stark crossed his arms. “And what’s your problem? The hair gel finally get to your head?”

Cloud opened a shining blue eye, quickly closing it again as he started to turn green. “I have motion sickness. And the hair’s natural.”

“No way,” Stark muttered, but took his seat again anyway. Steve followed. The air was starting to get marginally less tense, but he was still alert. With Loki on board, anything could happen.

The plane hit a sudden bout of turbulence as thunder rumbled outside. 

“Where’s this coming from?” Natasha wondered. 

“I don’t care but I want it to stop.” Cloud was hunched over, head in his hands.

“You doing okay?” Steve asked, even though just looking at Cloud would answer that question.

Cloud stilled, but managed to raise his head from his hands. He didn’t look at Steve, instead focusing on his lap, but he began to mumble, “We have an airship where I’m from. She’s great, a lot more stable than this, but-”

Another clap of thunder interrupted him, followed by several flashes of lightning. Cloud dropped his head back down, whispering, “I’ll finish later.” He looked positively sickly.

Loki appeared perturbed by the lightning, even if Steve could only tell because his eyes widened slightly. 

“What’s the matter, scared of a little lightning?” He asked mockingly. After all the trouble Loki had put them through, he felt justified enough to do so.

“I’m not overly fond of thunder.” Loki responded, seemingly troubled.

Thunder rolled loudly outside, followed by a loud _CLANG!_ from on top of the plane. The whole vehicle shuttered. Cloud groaned loudly, and Steve swore he could hear him cussing to high heaven from under his breath. Tony shoved his helmet back on and Steve grabbed his shield. Cloud tried to reach for his sword, but seeing as he looked like he was gonna hurl any moment, Steve clapped him on the shoulder and assured him, “We’ll take care of this.”

Cloud frowed and tried to get up. Anything he might have said in protest was lost in the noise of Stark opening the hangar door. 

“What are you doing!?” Steve yelled over the roaring wind. Stark didn’t reply, instead firing up his blasters as a figure with a red cape landed on the door, golden hair blowing wildly in the storm. The figure said nothing as he hit Stark in the chest with his hammer, knocking him all the way to the front of the plane.

Loki seemed to curl into himself as Steve assumed a defensive position in front of him, but further fighting was interrupted when Cloud yelled, “Wait!”

The figure paused a moment, and Steve’s attention was drawn to Cloud’s eyes, glowing brightly despite the darkness outside. _There’s no way that’s natural._

“...Thor?” Cloud finally asked. He sounded confused.

“...Cloud.” Thor greeted, before turning his attention back to Loki. “I’m afraid I have no time for pleasantries.”

 _Wait, these two know each other?_ Unfortunately, Steve was distracted enough that Thor was able to smack him with his hammer, leaving him disoriented and further confused.

Thor grabbed Loki by the collar and without saying another thing he leapt out of the plane with his brother in tow. Cloud’s eyes widened, and Steve could physically see him attempt to shake off the motion sickness. He was stumbling upwards, but by the time he got his feet under him Stark was already pushing past.

“Nice going, Stormy. If that guy frees or kills Loki, the Tesseract is lost.” 

Cloud didn’t say anything to that.

“Stark! We need a plan of attack.”

Stark appeared downright menacing when he turned around, the eyes of his suit glowing brightly against the dark clouds outside. “I have a plan. Attack.”

And with that he was gone. Steve whirled over to Natasha. “Don’t we have parachutes on board or something?”

“Yes, right beside you. But I’d sit this one out, Cap. These guys come from legend, they’re basically gods.”

“Not gonna happen. There’s only one god, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”

Steve didn’t turn around as he leapt, but he did hear the sound of a second whistle coming down right after his. Cloud’s hair was plastered to his face by the wind and the rain, but his eyes still shone like beacons in the darkness. They sailed to the ground in silence, prepared for anything.

\---

Loki groaned loudly. His whole body was in pain, though it was nothing compared to the few seconds Strife had set him on fire. Those had been positively _awful._

“Where is the Tesseract, brother?” Thor questioned. He was pacing, stupid flashy red cape flapping in the wind behind him.

Loki laughed. Family reunions were always _terrible_ with Asgardians, weren’t they? “I missed you too, brother.”

Thor’s speed increased and his voice was like gravel. “Do I look to be in a gaming mood?” He had his hammer clenched tightly by his side.

“You should thank me!” Loki said, “With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the all-father have to muster to conjure you here? Your precious Earth!” He spat at Thor’s feet.

His brother dropped his Mjolnir with a _clunk!_

Thor, true to the thunderstorms he conjured, stormed towards him and hoisted him up by his collar. “I thought you were dead.”

No, Loki absolutely _refused_ to see the hurt hidden behind his anger.

“I didn’t know you cared. Did you mourn?”

Thor locked eyes with him. “We all did. Our father-”

“Your father.”

Thor was silent, but he put Loki down. Loki scoffed. “He told you my true parentage, did he not?” Loki began to walk away. 

“You’re still my brother, Loki.”

Loki paused. “Am I?”

Thor opened his mouth to respond but Loki held up a hand. “I was never a brother to you, was I? Only a shadow.”

“Loki-”

“Enough!” Loki wouldn’t hear anymore. “I was nothing but a flimsy shade, always a dark spot on your greatness.” He continued, snarling, “ _I_ was meant to be king!”

Thor advanced, and the sky boomed. “So what? You will take Earth as recompense to your imagined slights? I think not, brother, because this planet is under my protection.”

“Your protection?” Loki scrutinized his ‘brother’, raising an eyebrow. “I hardly think you’re competent enough to protect a puppy! The humans slaughter each other while you sit by, idly, and fret and worry but ultimately do nothing. I mean to rule them!”

“You? Rule them? We are not above them, we are part of them. You miss the truth of ruling, brother. The throne would suit you ill.” Thor attempted to clap him on the shoulder, and pretend nothing was wrong and Loki _would not have it._ He shoved past him.

“I have seen the true power of the Tesseract! And when-”

“Who showed you this power, brother?” Thor asked, and by _Odin_ he had to gall to act _concerned_. “Who controls the would-be king?”

“I am a king!” Loki shouted, but Thor was already in his face, ready to put him down like it was an _instinct_.

“NOT HERE! You give up the Tesseract, you give up this poisonous dream! Loki… _come home_ .” Were those _tears_?

Loki shook his head and planted a smile on his face, one so strained he was sure Thor would see right through him. “I don’t have it.” 

Thor snarled, summoning his Odin-forsaken hammer, but Loki held up his hands placatingly and explained, “I sent it off, though I know not where.”

Thor paused, and threatened, “Listen well, brother-”

He was interrupted and knocked over the side of the cliff in a bundle of red and silver. Loki peered over the side, shrugged, and made his escape.

\---

They landed in the forest and quickly cut themselves loose. Promptly stumbling into a clearing, Steve and Cloud came upon Thor and Stark doing their best to beat the shit out of each other.

“Hey!” Steve threw his shield into the mix, rebounding it off of Thor and Stark. Cloud paid them no mind, instead beginning to search for Loki. He was tricky, and if he wasn’t found soon they’d be back to square one. Thus, Cloud was caught off guard when a shockwave of epic proportions knocked him flat on his front.

“What the fu-” He muttered, rolling over and glancing behind him. Steve and Thor had both been knocked to opposite ends of the clearing. Thor’s hammer was slightly smoking and Steve’s shield had rebounded off somewhere into the dark woods. Grumbling under his breath, Cloud stalked back to the clearing and angrily yelled, “What in Gaia’s name is the Planet-damned problem?”

Steve and Thor picked themselves back up while Stark said something snarky in the background. Cloud ignored him, suspecting no good would come from listening to his side of the story. Stark seemed to have a hot temper and an ugly vocabulary he made solely for insulting people. Cloud would give him one last shot before officially putting him onto the Don’t Befriend list.

It was Thor who spoke first. “I must put a stop to Loki’s schemes, and the metal man is halting my progress. The man with the shield told me to put down Mjolnir.”

Stark piped up, “I stopped you because you didn’t clarify your intentions.”

Cloud rolled his eyes before sheathing First Tsurugi. “So no actual danger, just bad tempers?” Cloud himself had a slow-burn sort of temper, nothing anywhere close to _these_ hotheads. “Fine then. Let’s go find Loki.”

Nobody protested, so Cloud asked Thor to lead the way to where he last saw Loki. Shortly after that, they found him jogging down the nearest road, hands still shackled. Cloud was _tired_ , so he told somebody else to take care of it while he radioed in the plane. Soon enough they were back at base.

—

Cloud went slack against the wall, rolling his shoulders to loosen the tension. Fury was currently speaking with Loki, in that way Cloud was coming to associate with him, Loki began one of his silver-tongued speeches, which resounded through the whole breakroom from the speakers in the table. 

The man Cloud had just recently met, named Bruce Banner, was the probably the one the speech was intended for, but Cloud couldn’t help but feel a sort of kinship with him. _Desperate… Lost… A thing in place of a man…_ Not too long ago Cloud could have been described with those words. So, for his own peace of mind, and somewhat for Bruce’s, Cloud said, “Turn it off.”

Natasha glanced at him before going back to the screen. “I can’t. Fury said-”

“I don’t care what Fury said. It’s better for us if we don’t have to listen to Loki any longer than we have too.”

Natasha, as well as almost everyone else in the room, stared at him like he was crazy. Cloud decided he was done putting up with any more weird looks today. He picked up his sword and went into the hallway, then forced himself to stop walking so he wouldn’t go somewhere alone. _Gaia, this place sucks._

He was out there for maybe a minute before the door slid open again. 

“Hey.” Bruce said, hands in his pockets.

Cloud glanced at him, but continued leaning on the wall in silence. He truly wanted nothing more than a nap (and to go home. But he only really had one option anyway). 

“I just, uh… wanted to say thanks in there. I, uh, appreciate it.”

Cloud shrugged and closed his eyes to block out the light. Being oversensitive sucked. “It’s fine. I did it more for me than for you.”

Bruce had nothing to say to that, so he rubbed his arms awkwardly instead. “We should go back inside.” He finally said.

“Yeah.” Cloud responded, but he made no move to leave.

“Alright, see you there then.” Bruce went back into the break room.

 _I wish…_ Cloud wasn’t sure what he wished. He missed his friends, the kids, the church, everything. But right now, the most plausible thing he could wish for was alone time. Which Fury had banned him from. Go figure. Well, it wasn’t like he had ever been one to listen to authority. Cloud went down the hallway, scanning for room to stay (hide) in, but unfortunately he ran into Coulson. _Gaia, you have a sick sense of humor._

“Hey, Cloud.” Coulson greeted. He glanced over Cloud’s shoulder. “Where’s everybody else?”

“Meeting room.” Cloud answered, before trying to continue on his way. Coulson wasn’t having it. He raised an eyebrow, stepping in front of him. The only way Cloud could get through was by shoving him, and he didn’t dislike Coulson enough to do that. 

“And why aren’t you with them?”

Cloud averted eye contact. There really weren’t any lies he could think of that sounded plausible enough. Coulson smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, steering him around to the meeting room. Cloud tried to shrug him off but he held on tight and pushed Cloud back towards the Gaia-forsaken door. Cloud scowled as Coulson pushed him through and popped his head inside to greet the other Avengers and Thor.

“Make sure he doesn’t wander off anymore, capiche?”

And then he was gone. Cloud felt himself shrink under the attention of everyone, and kept his eyes off of their faces as he slunk into a chair. Steve cleared his throat, and whether it was to take the attention off Cloud or simply get the meeting back on track, Cloud was still thankful. 

“Loki’s stalling. We know this. But what’s his ploy?” The last question was aimed at Thor.

“Loki…” Thor Dan a hand through his beard, “Has an army, called the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard nor of any known world. I do not know where he got them, but I do know that they are powerful. He means to lead them against your people, to conquer and to rule you.”

Steve nodded. Cloud was on guard. This was the kind of threat Fury was protecting against with the Avengers, which meant, by extension, it was Cloud’s job to fight these things. He probably would have done so whether or not Fury had recruited him. Hopefully they would be easy prey. They couldn’t be too different from the monsters back home, right?

“So they’re an army… from outer space.” Steve concluded.

Cloud’s eyes widened minutely. “Outer space,” he said, unthinkingly, “like JENOVA?”

Thor whirled on him. “Do not speak that name!”

Cloud glanced at him, but his lips pressed into a tight frown. “So, _are_ they like her?” He asked Thor.

Thor paced, hands clasped behind his back.

“No, I do not think so.” He finally said. “They are not even close to as powerful.”

Steve held up his hands. “Wait, wait. Who’s JENOVA?”

Thor flinched as though he had been struck and everyone in the room turned to Cloud, completely alert, waiting eagerly for him to continue explaining.

Cloud crossed his arms and kicked his legs onto the table. He closed his eyes, deep in thought. “JENOVA. The Calamity from the Skies. She single-handedly wiped out the Cetra on my planet.”

Thor stopped his pacing. “The Cetra… are dead?”

Cloud nodded. “The last one…” He stopped for a moment, before taking a deep, calming breath. His eyes involuntarily flickered to the ribbon tied on his arm. “She died recently.”

Thor bowed his head, golden hair covering his eyes. “I am sorry to hear that. And what of JENOVA?”

“My friends and I took care of her. Actually, I destroyed the last of her right before I was sent here. Her and her son, I guessed.”

Thor sat down, pensieve. “That thing… birthed a child?”

Cloud nodded, mind distant. “Yes… sort of. There were a lot of genetic experiments involved.”

Almost everyone in the room appeared somber. The news seemed to bother them all on some level, even those who had little idea of the terror JENOVA had wrecked.

Thor crossed his arms and peered at Cloud curiously. “And you said that you and your friends were the ones to end it?”

“Yes.”

Thor nodded his head at him respectfully. “Cloud, you are a much more impressive warrior than I gave you credit for.”

Cloud stared for a second before shrugging. “Thanks, I guess.”

Steve stood up. His jaw was set in a firm line. “Well, if Cloud took care of this JENOVA thing, and her son on top of it, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to get through this okay. But we still have to think about the Tesseract. Bruce?”

Bruce scratched his head. _Isn’t he supposed to be a doctor of some sort?_ “I think that Loki is using the Tesseract to build another portal. One to bring those Chitauri, or maybe something bigger, here. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.”

Thor held up a hand, face troubled. “Selvig?”

He glanced at Cloud, who nodded. He had seen Erik Selvig at the S.H.I.E.L.D. compound, the same place he had also first met Loki. “Loki’s got Selvig under his control, using that spear thing of his, I think.”

Bruce turned to Thor. “Selvig is an astrophysicist-”

“Selvig is a friend.”

Steve interrupted them both. “What I want to know is why Loki let us capture him. He’s not going to be leading an army from here.”

Bruce twiddled with his glasses, and added, “I don’t think we should be thinking of Loki. That guy’s brain is a bag of cats.”

Cloud glanced at Bruce curiously, unused to the expression, and Bruce caught his cue and clarified, “A strange place.”

Cloud snorted, “I’d say a little more than strange. He only speaks in lies.”

Thor shot Cloud a dangerous look that he returned steadily. 

“Take care how you speak. He is beyond reason, but he is still of Asgard, and he’s my brother.” Thor warned.

“I know what I said. I have experience with people like him. It’s never pretty.” Cloud returned. He refrained from adding that the person Loki reminded him of was JENOVA’s son. Given Thor’s reaction earlier, he was pretty sure that would earn him a quick spot on Thor’s hit list, and Cloud had no desire to fight him.

Natasha was leaning over the table, watching Loki’s cell, but Cloud had no doubt she had been listening to every word. “Loki killed eighty people in two days,” she said, “He’s dangerous.”

Thor turned away from her piercing stare. “He’s adopted.”

“Don’t use that as an excuse.” Cloud interrupted. He had adopted Denzel and Marlene as family, even if Barret was Marlene’s father. “Adopted or not, he’s still your family, no matter his behavior.”

“What would you know of it?” Thor shot at him, affronted.

“I’ve adopted a lot of kids. Trust me when I say they don’t appreciate when you mention it.”

Thor furrowed his brows but remained quiet. He seemed to be considering his words. Steve turned towards him and raised an eyebrow. “A lot, huh? You got somebody back home to help you?”

Cloud shrugged. “Sort of. She’s my best friend, and we’re technically married for tax reasons, but we’re not involved. We both just kind of… look after the orphans.”

Steve definitely looked like he wanted to ask more questions about Cloud’s home life, but Bruce interrupted any further questions. “Back on track. I think we need to focus on the Irridium Loki stole. What could he need it for?”

“It’s a stabilizing agent,” Stark answered, entering the room as though he owned it. Coulson was beside him, but upon Stark entering the room, swiftly took his leave. Stark put his hands into his suit pockets, looking for all the world like a smaller, darker Rufus Shinra. Cloud nearly had to do a double take. Yeah, that was a definite Rufus pose, if slightly more relaxed. All that was missing was the Turk detail.

“It means,” Stark continued, “That the portal won’t collapse in on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D.”

He tapped Thor on the arm. “No hard feelings, Point Break. You got a mean swing.” Thor appeared equal parts confused and flattered.

Cloud wrinkled his nose at Stark’s strong cologne. _Who is he hoping to pick up in here? Natasha?_ Cloud suspected she would sooner punch Stark in the stomach then go on a date with him.

“It also means that the portal can stay as wide and open as Loki wants.” Stark finished.

“So besides the Chitauri, Loki can also invite other aliens to Earth? Is that what this means?” Steve questioned.

“Bingo.” Stark shot finger guns at him before turning to Agent Hill and announcing, “That man,” He said, pointing to a crew member Cloud couldn’t see, “Is playing Galaga.”

Cloud craned his neck while Agent Hill nearly facepalmed. 

“What’s a Galaga?” He asked Steve quietly. Steve shrugged hopelessly. Cloud let it be, but decided he would have to investigate. It sounded better than any of the Gold Saucer games.

“Richard Burton can get his hands on most of the raw materials pretty easily,” Stark said, flicking on a couple monitors after making a comment about Fury. “The only other major component he needs is a power source.”

Agent Hill regarded Stark. She seemed somewhat impressed. “When did you become a thermonuclear astrophysicist?”

“Last night,” Stark said, stone-faced. Cloud’s eyebrows shot to his hairline, though he tried to keep his expression blank. He didn’t understand the last part, but it sounded fairly impressive. Maybe Stark was a little more than terrible nicknames and bad jokes.

“Wait, wouldn’t that be the Tesseract?” Cloud asked for clarification.

“No, no,” Bruce answered, slowly walking in circles nervously, “Loki would have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.”

“Unless,” Stark added, “Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.”

Bruce quickly picked up on his train of thought. “Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet.”

“Finally, someone speaks English,” Stark said. 

“Is that what just happened?” mumbled Steve. Cloud was glad he wasn’t the only one who felt a little lost by what had just been said. He was pretty sure they didn’t even _have_ half of those terms on Gaia.

“Good to meet you, Dr. Banner,” Stark smiled, extending a hand to Bruce, “Your work on antielectron collisions is _unparalleled_.”

Cloud felt himself tuning out until he caught Stark finishing with, “-I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

“Quiet, Stark.” Cloud said calmly. Stark had done almost nothing but get on his nerves since he met him. “Leave him alone.”

“You gonna make me?” Stark shot at him.

“Yeah,” Cloud said, getting up and reaching for Tsurugi, “Maybe I will.”

“You know what I think, Thunderhead?” Stark asked, stalking up to Cloud. They were the same height, but even Steve, who was taller than them both, felt the need to disrupt the tension. “Guys-”

“No,” Cloud said, holding up a hand. His eyes cast a faint blue light on Stark. “Let me hear this.”

“I think,” Stark said, reaching out a hand as part of his suit came flying towards him, “That somebody’s scared of the big, bad Hulk.”

Cloud had read about the Hulk, about the destruction he had wrecked across the United States. He knew he had nothing to worry about. “I’ve killed things much more terrifying than a large green monster.” He glanced at Bruce. “Sorry.”

Bruce held up his hands, “No, it’s, uh, fine.”

Stark backed down. “Well,” he said, looking around the room, “At least we’ve got somebody reliable on the team.”

Cloud watched him go, taking his hand off of First Tsurugi. _I don’t know how much longer I can put up with this._ He prayed to Aerith for patience.

“If you’re done,” Fury announced, “The _only_ ,” he glanced at Stark, “reason Dr. Banner is here is to monitor the cube. I was hoping you could help with that.” He nodded to Stark.

Steve jumped in, “I don’t know about you, but even though it may be magical, that staff of his looks an awful lot like a Hydra weapon.”

“I don’t know about that,” Fury raised an eyebrow, “But I _would_ like to figure out how he used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

“Monkeys?” Thor asked in confusion. “I don’t understa-.”

“I do!” Steve interrupted. Cloud figured he would ask later (no need to give Stark anymore leverage).

Stark rolled his eyes in the back of the room.

“I understood that reference.” Steve smiled happily. Cloud felt the embarrassment where he didn’t seem too.

“Shall we play, doctor? You can tell me what JENOVA is on the way,” Stark said to Bruce. Cloud stood up. “Now hold on-”

“Cloud, it’s fine.” Bruce gave him an easy smile. “I got the big guy under control.”

It would be weird to intervene any farther, so Cloud sat down, in spite of his own feelings on Stark’s treatment of Bruce. If Bruce said he could handle it, Cloud would trust him to handle it. After all, his friends trusted him not to break down (though he had unfortunately not been doing a very good job of that lately, something he would have to apologize for. He hoped Geostigma would be a sufficient excuse for isolating himself so much. Tifa was _so_ going to scold him when he got back. If- No, he would. He had too).


	7. Weapons of Destruction (Now Organic!)

Everyone went their separate ways after the meeting. Coulson was trying to recruit Thor, Steve had snuck off somewhere, Bruce and Stark were doing science, and Natasha had gone who knows where. This left Cloud with a viable excuse for finally taking a nap. So he had slunk into one of the empty office rooms, set his stuff down, and closed his eyes.

...He didn’t even get five minutes. Something was bugging him. He was curious what S.H.I.E.L.D. had even wanted with the Tesseract in the first place. Sure, they had to keep it away from Loki, but Cloud, a supposed Avenger, didn’t even know it had existed until he had to investigate the empty S.H.I.E.L.D. base himself. The whole thing was fishy, and fishy things within powerful organizations had never boded well on his world. He was willing to bet it would be the same case on this one.

He wandered down the hallways of the aircraft carrier, wondering where his teammates were supposed to be. It wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that he was having trouble adjusting. The only person he could safely say he got along with was Steve. Bruce was a ‘maybe’, as was Natasha. Thor was under ‘tentative acquaintance’. Stark was ‘makes me pissed off only a little less than Rufus’. Cloud just wasn’t good with people outside of AVALANCHE. They didn’t scare him, they were just… hard to understand. And one of the people here wasn’t even human, but one of the old Nibel gods personified. The tech in this world was also strange, almost unnatural. Cloud had only just begun living in a world without mako back home, but they apparently had never had such a thing on this planet. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing: No Shinra. The bad thing: Cloud literally knew almost nothing.

Stuck in his troubled thoughts, Cloud nearly walked into Fury. He only barely stopped himself, but Fury didn’t even glance at him, instead storming into the room where Stark and Bruce were working on the staff. Shortly after, Steve followed him in, carrying a gun of some sort and dumping it on the table. The tension seemed to be growing in the room as Steve, Bruce, Stark and Fury began shouting over each other. Cloud pushed open the doors, ready for anything.

“What’s going on here?” Cloud asked warily.

Stark tried to dismiss him from the room, but Steve spoke up, gesturing to the weapon laying on the table. “Weapons development, that’s what going on.” He glared at Fury, mouth set in a deep frown. “S.H.I.E.L.D. was using the Tesseract as an energy source for weapons development.”

Cloud sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He slid his gaze to Fury. “I suspected as much,” He said dryly.

Fury was frowning, one visible eye furrowed. “Did you?”

Cloud crossed his arms. “...In my world, Shinra did something similar.” He paused. “It never turns out well.” He turned to exit, only to see Natasha and Thor enter, most likely to see what the commotion was about. Instead of leaving, he turned back to Fury to offer some more advice he was sure wouldn’t be heeded, given the track record of organizations like this. “I would suggest you stop before it’s too late.”

Fury’s lips were a tight line. He spun on his heel, coat flying behind him, but Steve blocked his path. The Director stared down at him unhappily, but made no more moves to leave. 

“I was wrong Director,” Steve said gruffly, if a little disappointedly, “The world hasn’t changed a bit.”

Natasha strode forward, and for the first time since coming into the room Cloud noticed Bruce was sweating an _awful_ lot. “Fury, Loki’s ploy is to use The Hulk.” she said, before turning to Bruce, “You wanna think about removing yourself from the situation, doctor?”

Bruce was clearly strained, but he kept a smile on nonetheless. “I _was_ in Calcutta-That’s pretty far removed.”

Natasha bore her eyes into Bruce intensely. “Loki is manipulating you.”

“And, you’re doing what, exactly?” Bruce sarcastically replied.

Natasha crossed her arms. “You didn’t come here because I bat my eyelashes at you-”

“Yes, well, I’m not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy-” Bruce walked over to the monitor, gesturing at the display with a pen, “What I’d like to know is why _S.H.I.E.L.D._ is using the Tesseract to build _weapons-_ ”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cloud interrupted, “They’re building weapons to fight off threats from outer space…” He glanced at Fury, “Or at least, that’s what they’re going to claim. I’m guessing they’re stockpiling them to use against other humans when all of the alien threats are gone. That’s what Shinra did.” _Invisible threat, money allocated weapons, weapons built, oppressive regime._ It was like a cycle of evil.

Fury was quiet.

“So what?!” Cloud asked the room, frustrated by their silence, “Am I right?”

Everyone looked at Fury. The Director remained calm and steely, meeting Cloud’s disappointed gaze. 

“Mostly,” he finally conceded. “We’re not just stockpiling them for threats and other humans. The fact of the matter is,” he paused, drawing the room’s attention to Thor and Cloud, “that there _are_ threats that need to be dealt with in order to protect humanity. It could be gods, or super soldiers from another world, or even men like you, Stark.” 

Stark put his hands on his hips. “Like me?”

“Men who have money, power, and technology, and use it. Who build suits, and become superior to the rest of us. Who can not and will not be restrained by the _laws of any governments_ . These kinds of men, who seem to be cropping up left and right, are threats that will have to be dealt with. And _that_ is why we need these weapons.”

“Sounds like a load of shit to me,” Cloud grunted, hand going to the hilt of Tsurugi. “But if anything goes wrong on this planet... “ His eyes roved around the room, carefully studying the faces of all inside. “ _You’re_ going to be the ones to clean it up.” 

By the time Steve thought to yell, “Cloud, wait!” he had already pushed past Thor to the exit. _I’m done with this place._ He’d dealt with enough bullshit to last him a lifetime. _This is going to be Sephiroth all over again._

“Strife,” Fury said calmly. Cloud only barely slowed down his pace. “Strife!” Fury called sternly. Cloud stopped. 

“ _What?_ ” He growled.

“If you leave my sight, I will be forced to call all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the vicinity.” He glanced towards the weapon on the table. “And I’m sure you’d know how that would go.”

Cloud gripped Tsurugi a little tighter. “Try me.”

“Do you really want the full might of an army against you right now?”

Cloud grit his teeth. This situation brought up bad memories. His other hand clenched by his side. He could _probably_ make it out. Then again, that was what Zack had thought- _Stop._

“Fine.” 

Cloud stormed back into the room. He refused to look Fury in the eye. 

Taking advantage of the momentary silence, Thor walked towards the Director, muscles flexing in irritation. “The truth that remains is that because you used the Tesseract you signaled to all other life forms that you are now ready for a _higher form of war-_ ”

Fury met his eyes evenly. “We’ve developed these weapons as a deterrent-”

“Ah yes, because _that’s_ always worked so well-” Stark added sarcastically.

Steve stared down at Stark. “I’m sure if you were still in weapons development you’d be neck-deep in this-”

“Wait, so this is about me now?”

“Isn’t it always-”

“I thought humans were more _evolved_ than this-” 

“Well humans didn’t come to _your_ planet and start blowing up towns-”

“Are you boys seriously that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D. is the one that protects-”

Despite himself, Cloud threw fuel on the fire. “S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t done anything but drag most of us away from home to be used and thrown away-”

“That may be true for you, Strife, but some of us have a job to do-”

”No, Romanoff, let him speak-”

”Control yourself, Banner, or we may have to-”

“Your versión of _control_ has done nothing but cause chaos!” Thor barked at Fury. Bruce glared between them.

“Well, that’s our MO isn’t it? What are we, a team? No, we’re just a chemical concoction, brought together to make chaos. We’re a time bomb.” Bruce raised his arms pleadingly, exhausted and exasperated. “Aren’t we?!”

“Banner, I think you ought to calm down.” Fury advised coldly.

Cloud glared at him, pushing in front of Bruce. “No, I agree with him. The Avengers were a bad idea. I don’t believe any good will come of this… This team was nothing but a fever dream, and nobody can seem get their head out of their ass long enough to acknowledge that.”

“Well nobody asked you, Broody and Gloomy-” 

“Just shut _up_ , Tony-”

“When did I give you permission to use my first name? I’m gonna have to sue you for that-”

Steve, apparently fed up, shoved Stark roughly. “You? You’re a big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”

Stark kept his footing and narrowed his eyes. “Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.”

Steve clenched his fist. “I knew guys with none of that worth _ten_ of you.” A pregnant pause filled the air. “And I’ve seen the footage. The only one you really fight for is _yourself_.”

Stark remained silent. Steve continued on his tirade. Cloud made a note to remind himself to never get Steve _angry_. “You’ve _never_ laid down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”

Stark met Steve’s gaze, the air so tense between them that a fight was sure to break out. Stark finally responded, “I think I would just cut the wire.”

Cloud felt himself get frustrated on Steve’s behalf. They had both been military, and they both knew what it meant to have someone throw their life away for you. But at the same time, Stark had a point. Out-of-the-box thinking had saved countless lives. But there often wasn’t any other way. Zack’s stories about the Wutai War proved that true. The traps laid had been vicious and quick, never leaving much room for much else besides basic self preservation and instinct.

Steve had a sour smile on his face. “Always a way out…” He glanced to Bruce. He didn’t meet his gaze. He turned back to Stark, telling him plainly, “You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”

The room was quiet. Stark was staring steadily at Steve. “A hero? Like you? You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers, everything special about you came out of a bottle.”

Cloud didn’t want to listen to the miserable argument any longer. “Enough!” he shouted, coming between them. When Steve made a move behind him Cloud’s hand grabbed the hilt of Tsurugi. He backed off.

Stark glared at him. “And you. Who do you think you are? Coming in here and trying to dictate how things are run? Go back to your world, blondie. Earth doesn’t matter to you. You don’t belong here.”

Cloud glared right back. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t _know_ I’m not really part of the group? I know everyone here is waiting for me to run off like a coward.” He glanced around the room. “Don’t worry, I’m not mad. It makes sense. I’ve been a coward before, for a lot longer than any of you will ever know. But I’m not anymore, and I’m tired of running away.”

He turned to Fury. “I’m not going to leave. I’ll help you protect Earth for as long as I’m here. But after that, I’m going to go home. And it’s not because I’m running. I’ve got things to protect there that are more important to me than anything could _ever_ be on this planet. My world just got off the brink of destruction. It’s time for it to rebuild… And I plan to be there for it.”

Thor stepped forward as Cloud turned away from Stark. He nodded towards Cloud, and began to pace once again. “The threats to Earth will not stop with the Chitauri.” he finally said, “Many more will keep coming. Some may even be on par with JENOVA.”

Cloud shook his head. “That’s not my problem.”

The room was silent once more, before a _ding!_ signalled from the computer. Stark went over, rapidly typing his keyboard to find something Cloud didn’t know. Bruce went over to another monitor, copying him.

“Guy-” he started, but an explosion rocked the ship. 

“What was-?”

Cloud was cut off as a giant fireball erupted in the center of the room. Before he knew what was happening his vision turned sideways and suddenly there wasn’t a floor under him. With a pained grunt he fell next to Bruce and Natasha onto a steel platform. Rubble was catching pieces of his uniform, but pained groans beside him alerted him that somebody had it worse. His ears rang horribly. His vision was dark, traces of color swimming in front of him. He pushed himself up worriedly.

“B-Bruce?” He murmured, “Natasha?”

Somebody was calling his name, from far, far away. “A-Aerith?” He asked hopefully. No response.

“Cloud! Cloud! Wake up, Bruce is- he’s-”

His vision slowly began to fade back to normal. Cloud shook his head, once, twice, and wiped the mako-tinged blood off of his forehead. “W-What’s going on?” He asked confusedly.

“The Hulk!”

And Cloud was once again sent flying as a giant green fist smashed into him. _There goes my ribs._

“Shit!” He heard Natasha breath under her breath. “Bruce- Bruce-” She whispered to the purple blob of color that was presumably Bruce, “Bruce, I swear I’m going to save you. I swear on my life-”

“Your life?” The voice that was _not_ Bruce’s snarled. The purple blob began to tremble, growing and morphing into something green and, most importantly, huge.

Cloud scrambled to his feet, but he knew he wouldn’t be quick enough to reach Natasha in time. Yelling would only make the Hulk come out faster. His vision swam in and out and the painful burn in his torso was enough to alert him that the mako was doing its job. _What to do, what to do- Of course!_

“Haste.” Cloud muttered. Natasha’s actions sped up, much to her surprise, and she was able to squirm out from under the lead pipe crushing her leg in record time. Bruce appeared to be barely restraining himself beside her. Cloud cast Regen followed by Cure2. The pleasant buzz from the Cure2 helped clear his head while the Regen sped along the mako. _Barrier won’t do any good… the Hulk’s physical attacks are all too dangerous for it to have much of an effect…_

Bruce’s transformation was now complete, his skin green, muscles massive, and shirt completely torn off. Natasha was still up on the steel platform while he and the Hulk were on the floor underneath that. Cloud hardly dared breath as the Hulk stumbled past him, watching intently as the creature seemed to be trying to clear his/its head. The Hulk thoughtlessly crushed a metal tank and Cloud winced in thought of what his ribs must have looked like.

Natasha carefully lowered herself down from the steel platform, but the sound she made when she dropped was still loud enough that the Hulk spun around and charged. Natashe turned and ran, but with a noticeable limp slowing her steps considerably. Cloud cast a Cure3 on Natasha, and prayed to Gaia she would be able to make it. The Hulk practically foamed at the mouth, and Cloud felt fear for the first time in a long time as it ran past him, straight towards her. Cloud picked himself up and crept behind them. He felt bad leaving her to fend for herself, but if this plan was going to work, he would need stealth as his ally. He wouldn’t use his sword (he didn’t want to kill Bruce), so magic would have to do. The sword was for if things got ugly.

He followed The Hulk at a distance as it roared at Natasha. She was fast, and despite Hulk’s considerable speed, she always stayed one step ahead. She was well trained. Finally Natasha came to a dead end, and despite her brave face Cloud knew she was probably scared. Bullets had proved ineffective against The Hulk, and close-quarters combat would be more dangerous than any other course of action. 

“Stop!” Cloud cast. The Hulk froze in place. Cloud confidently slipped out from his hiding place. If he could at least get it’s attention it would be better than nothing. Natasha, wide-eyed, mouthed at him, “What-the-fuck-are-you-doing?”

“So are you really the best monster this world has to offer?”

The Hulk growled from somewhere deep in its throat. Cloud refused to let his unease show. 

“I’ve fought Hedgehog Pies scarier than you.”

The Hulk shattered the spell. Cloud felt bad doing this to Bruce, but he still cast Bio2 and Demi2 on the beast. The Hulk was simultaneously poisoned and flattened against the floor. Cloud spared only a second to look at Natasha, but she was already running past him, back to the deck. On her way past she clipped him on the shoulder, but Cloud knew it was a ‘thank you’. They didn’t have time to waste words, as The Hulk was already rising, and if possible he seemed even more enraged than before. 

Cloud hurriedly cast Sleep, but as expected, The Hulk was immune. So he ran. He ran faster than the last time he had seen a Tonberry, because the green creature behind him was only a smidgen more terrifying than those horrible things.

To block the way, he cast a quick Ice3. It only stopped The Hulk for nothing less than a microsecond. _Time for the last resort._ He prayed to Aerith for help before casting Mini. 

...It worked. The gigantic, enormous, incredible Hulk was now no larger than his pinky finger. Of course, there was no telling when the Hulk would shake off the spell, so while he was at it, Cloud hit it with a Bolt3 and a couple Fire3s. That seemed to do the trick, and the little mini-Hulk was out like a light in the palm of his hand.

He clenched his fist around the miniature beast and went to go find Natasha.


	8. Gains and Losses

Natasha kicked Clint in the face, hurriedly sliding down a sheet of metal. He followed her down, as expected, and they exchanged flurry of blows. Unfortunately, Clint had the weapon and she did not, meaning it was high time she found one… Or stole it.

She grabbed ahold of his bow from the string. He pulled and kicked, but she wrangled it away from him and slid backwards, pointing the sharpest end like a sword. Clint drew a knife, running straight at her, but Natasha blocked and headbutted him in return. He was sloppy in this altered state.

He threw a punch, allowing her to grab his arm and twist it, hoping to break skin. _Sorry, Clint._ But before she could make him bleed, or better, break his arm, he threw the knife from his captured hand to his free one, and Natasha just barely missed a slice that would have spilled her brain all over Fury’s nice metal catwalks.

She jumped onto his back and got Clint in a stranglehold, aiming his own knife at him, but he managed to throw her against the side of the catwalk, knocking her off, and followed up by aiming the knife at her exposed throat instead. His arm slammed down on top of her neck, attempting to keep her in place. Natasha shook sweat off her face and pulled her face away from the glinting blade. Seeing no other option, she bit him. He dropped the knife as Natasha wiped the blood away from her chin. Clint quickly picked himself up and ran at her, but Natasha jumped over his head, resulting in him hitting his head on the guardrails. _Hard._

“Auugghh…” Clint blinked at her. “Felichia?”

Natasha punched him in the face. He sprawled, banging his head once again. _That should knock that spell out of his brain_. She hefted his unconscious body in a fireman’s carry and began to trudge back to Fury. She hoped the rest of the team could take out the remainder of Loki’s forces. Loki had hoped to use the commotion caused by The Hulk to escape, but Strife had taken care of that problem. Stark and Rogers should have finished repairing the engine by now. And from what she knew of Thor… she nearly groaned. He would go after Loki.

\---

Loki could scarcely believe how easy it had been to trick his brother into containment. Why, he himself had been the one to dislodge the cell in the first place! He wondered…

“Humans think us immortal,” Loki informed his brother, “Should we test that?”

A sudden grunt from one of the pawns who were guarding the door distracted him. 

_Damn, a blasted S.H.I.E.L.D. agent._

“Move away from the controls,” What was his name-? That’s right, _Coulson_ ordered.

The weapon in his hands did not look Asgardian-friendly, but Loki had a plan. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent advanced slowly. “You like this?” He asked, hefting the weapon. Loki slowly put his hands up.

“I started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer.” He shook the weapon again. Loki put the appropriate expression of fear on his face, though inside he was boiling. How _dare_ these humans even _think_ they could _ever_ possibly match gods?

Coulson shrugged, appearing quite relaxed. “Even I don’t know what it can do.” He turned to Loki, priming the weapon for fire. “Wanna find out?”

Any further threats were silenced by the golden spear pushed through his chest. Loki’s illusion at the other end of the walkway faded, and he pulled out the spear, admiring his handiwork. He ignored his brother’s screaming and casually kicked the weapon away from Coulson. The agent stared at him with blank eyes, the colors in the iris already muted by the incoming coldness of death.

Loki smiled widely as he tapped the release button on the control station. It opened the hatch under Thor. Blustering wind whipped Loki’s hair and robes around, creating a striking resemblance to a king cobra, going in for the kill. _Goodbye, brother._

The cage dropped.

Loki closed the hatch, staring at the spot where his brother had been moments before. Had he truly just killed him for good? A strange feeling settled in his chest. It wasn’t grief… but joy?

For the first time in a long, long, time, Loki left the room with a true smile on his face. He didn’t deign to speak with the dead man. He had more important matters to attend to.

\---

“Agent Coulson is down.” Fury said into his radio. He gave one last glance to his friend and left the hanger. Coulson had been brave, and kinder than the rest of them, and so many other things Fury would never be able to experience again. He ran a hand down his face and rubbed his temples. Thor was gone. The Hulk out of commission. Barton was back, but with heavy injuries. Strife, Romanoff, Stark, and Rogers were all fine. That was four out of the seven ready to fight. Unfortunately, the mental state of the Avengers was scattered. They nothing keeping them together.

Fury was going to change that.

\---

“Shit.” Cloud buried his head in his hands. Coulson was gone. Natasha was barely keeping it together in the seat next to him, but Cloud felt as though he would break the second somebody spoke to him.

Another death on his watch. Another friend, once again gone for no good reason at all. Another friend that he hadn’t told ‘goodbye’.

Cloud rubbed his face in his hands. “Shit.” He repeated.

Steve’s eyes were downcast, Stark was resting his elbow on the table and cradling his head, Natasha was trying to be strong but blinking back tears, and Fury himself appeared to be shaking. Cloud wished he had some Hypers right about now. It would feel awful to artificially get rid of his grief, but right now he would take the numbness over anything. 

Fury finally spoke, his voice like gravel in the cold, silent room. “These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket.” He threw a couple of bloodstained Captain America trading cards onto the table. Cloud felt like he was going to be sick, but he swallowed back the bile in his throat and kept listening. 

“We’re dead in the air up here. Lost communications, nothing on the cube, Thor is gone, and we have no _idea_ when Banner or Barton will recover…”

Steve picked up one of the trading cars, flipping it over to dully study both sides. Fury shook his head. “He never did get you to sign them.”

 _It’s a little late for that now_ , Cloud nearly snapped, but he held his tongue. Even Stark was quiet as he examined a few cards, turned them over in his hands like he could turn back the clock. Cloud picked up a card and tucked it into one of his pockets. He had the Ribbon from Aerith, the Buster Sword from Zack, and now the trading cards from Coulson. _I’m like the grim reaper, collecting tokens from dead friends wherever I go._

Fury began to stride calmly around the table. “Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract.” Fury began. Cloud’s mood further soured. “I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier.”

“There was an idea. Stark, and Strife, both know this. It was called the Avengers initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people-”

“And aliens.” Cloud muttered. 

Fury side-eyed him but added, “And aliens, to see if they could become something even more. To see if they could work together when we needed them too,” Steve looked away and Cloud closed his eyes, “To fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea.”

Cloud’s eyes snapped open. Was Fury actually- “Fury, I swear-”

“Cloud!” Natasha raised her voice. It was a wavering thing, but it still stood strong. He paused. “Just… please, sit down.”

Cloud sat down.

“In heroes.” Fury finished.

Stark got up and walked away. Cloud shook his head and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. _I never was and never will be one of those._

“Well…” Fury said, watching Stark disappear with disappointment in his eye, “It’s an old-fashioned notion.”


	9. Recovery

The world was a blurry mix of swirling purples and cloudy blues, all messily seeping into each other like colors from dropped paint buckets. Clint shook his head wildly, trying to dislodge the spacey feeling where his brain should have been.

“How are you feeling?” Natasha’s cool voice cut through the haze. Clint found a splotch of red sitting next to him that could only be her hair.

“Shitty.” He admitted. “Are you mad?”

Nat was quiet. She got up and began preparing something behind Clint’s hospital bed, but he was still able to see her face.

“I’ve gotta flush him out, Nat.”

“That’s going to take time.”

“You don’t understand.” Clint was sweating, and he pulled against the restraints on his bed in an attempt to gain _ some _ form of control. “Have you ever had someone take out your brain and play?”

Nat paused.

“Play around,” Clint continued, “And stuff something else in?” Clint looked at her pleadingly, and though she was trying to maintain her cool and her back was turned, her hands were trembling ever-so-slightly. Clint needed to help her understand that this wasn’t like a S.H.I.E.L.D. drug. This had been something otherworldly, something that had held hostage his consciousness and put not-Clint in its place. And that it could happen again.

“You know what’s behind me.” 

Nat turned to look at him, and set down the glass Clint just realized she had been pouring. Was it some sort of truth serum?. Even better, maybe she was making a water glass with cyanide. It would only be what he deserved, for becoming a filthy traitor.

But Nat only picked up the glass again. “You know I do.”

“Then why? Why am I back? How did you get him out?”

Nat shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips. “Oh, a couple of concussions.”

Clint raised a brow. “A couple? My head feels like it got run over by semi. Twice.” A pregnant pause filled the air. “Thanks.”

Nat sat on the end of the medical bed and began undoing the straps holding down Clint. 

“Nat-” He tried to warn her.

“Don’t.”

Clint stared up at the ceiling. He idly asked, “So how many agents are outside?”

Nat sat up and stared him in the eyes. “Don’t do this to yourself, Clint. It was Loki, and magic, and it  _ wasn’t _ you.”

“Loki. Did he get away?” Clint grilled.

“I don’t suppose you know where?”

Clint dropped her stare and shook his head. “He didn’t tell me. I didn’t ask. But… he’s going to make his play soon. Today.” He reached for the glass of water behind him and took a sip, allowing the cool liquid to clear his still-jumbled thoughts. No cyanide.

Nat put her hands on her hips and peered quietly out of the door, before turning around, a look of hard determination in her eyes. “We’ve gotta stop him.”

“Who’s we?”

“I don’t know,” Nat said, frustrated. She bit her lip and threw her hands up. “Whoever’s left.”

Clint was quiet for a moment. Natasha ran a hand through her hair before coming to sit down beside him on the bed. Clint turned to her, “I would sleep better if I could put an arrow through his eyes, I suppose.”

She smiled. “Now you sound like you.”

Clint shrugged. “But you don’t. You’re a spy, not a soldier. Yet you still want to wade into a war.” He turned to study her face. “Why?”

“What did Loki do to you?”

Natasha’s throat worked, trying to swallow an invisible, intangible pill. “He didn’t- He just…” She recomposed her features. “I’ve been compromised. I got red on my ledger.”

Clint raised a brow. 

“I’d like to wipe it out.”

\---

“Strife, you’re needed in the infirmary. The Hulk is-” 

“Got it.”

Cloud shoved away his feelings and walked away from the table. Casting magic… Something physical he could do. _ It’ll work, for now. _

He walked down the empty hallways, thinking of how his last conversation with Coulson had been over something as stupid as his loner tendencies. _ I should’ve said something, I should’ve done something… I’m such an ass. _

In spite of Fury’s blatant manipulation, Cloud  _ knew  _ he couldn’t just sit by anymore. Coulson had wanted him to start getting along with his teammates, so by Gaia he would. He’d be the most chipper fucking person on the team, if that’s what he had to do. No, that felt too much like disrespect. Coulson had wanted  _ Cloud _ to get along with the others, not Zack.

Unthinkingly, Cloud slammed his fist into the wall. The metal caved like paper-mache under his strength. _ How am I supposed to do this alone? _

Cloud pulled his hand away from the metal and schooled his face into a blank expression before continuing down the hallway. He and Coulson hadn’t been that close, but Cloud still felt as though it was another sin to add to his list of failures. Zack and Aerith’s deaths were both sore spots, but they had died for  _ something. _ Coulson had died for nothing, and that probably hurt the most. He was just  _ gone, _ because Cloud had once again failed to protect someone he cared about.

“Strife.” 

Cloud paused, glancing over his shoulder. There stood Stark, arms crossed and looking like he had something to say. Cloud didn’t want to hear it. He continued forward.

“Cloud.”

“What is it, Stark?”

“Call me Tony.”

“I have somewhere to be.”

“I know. But Bruce can wait.”

Cloud turned around and crossed his arms, brow furrowed. “What?”

Stark, no, Tony appeared slightly uncomfortable. “Well… I know that look on your face. I see it a lot.”

Cloud whirled back around. He didn’t want to talk about this right now, or ever, actually.

“I just want to say… It’s not your fault.”

Cloud furrowed his brow and grit his teeth. “What would you know?”

Tony tapped his fingers on his arm, avoiding eye contact. “I know because we all knew Coulson. He was a friend to me, to Cap, to Romanoff, to all of us. But I know that blaming yourself isn’t going to do any good, because I know he wouldn’t have blamed any of us, in those last few seconds. At least…” The air was heavy and thick, overly oppressive on Cloud’s lungs. “I’m trying to believe that.”

The consolation didn’t make it hurt any less, but it did take off the edge. Cloud considered Tony for a second. “He wouldn’t have blamed you either.” Cloud rubbed his arm. “That’s not the kind of man he was, I think.”

They stood in silence for a second. “Your right. He was an idiot, for trying to take on Loki alone. But… he was brave, I’ll give him that.” Cloud didn’t have it in him to fight about this right now. “You better get to Banner.” Tony finally said.

“Yeah.” Cloud turned to leave, but paused. “Thanks, Tony.”

“Back at you.”

Bruce was looking right awful when Cloud got to him. His skin was sickly green instead of the jade Cloud was coming to associate with The Hulk, and sweat matted his hair to his forehead as he convulsed on the white sheets of the bed.

“Damn!” Cloud swore, quickly slotting in the correct materia. He had forgotten about the Bio3.

He cast a quick Poisona on Bruce, which thankfully calmed him down some, before trying to cast Sleep again. It slid off of Bruce like a sheet of water.  _ I guess he’s immune in this form too. _

Bruce cracked his eyes open, staring at him blearily. He brought a hand up to rub at his eyes before groaning loudly. “Cloud?” He asked, voice gravelly.

“Welcome back.” Cloud greeted, a small smile threatening to pull at his lips. Instead he handed Bruce a glass of water from the bedside table. He greedily drank it all in under thirty seconds, even with some spluttering, before weakly setting it down again. Cloud sat down in a visitor’s chair, taking off First Tsurugi’s harness so as to be more comfortable.

“When I got called down here, I thought I might have to subdue you again.”

Bruce scratched his head, before glancing at Cloud confusedly, “How did you do that, by the way? The big guy was equally angry and impressed.”

Cloud shrugged. “A couple spells. Nothing too flashy.”

Bruce rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, but how?”

Cloud stared at him a second, debating whether or not to spill, before mentally shrugging and unslotting his Seal materia. It didn’t seem to work on Bruce anyway, so he felt safe enough handing it to him.

Bruce held the orb, fascinated. He turned it this way and that while Cloud watched bemused. “What’s it made of?” Banner asked.

“Mako.” Cloud answered.

“Mako?”

“It’s an energy source where I’m from. The blood of the planet.”

Bruce continued studying the orb, rolling it between his hands. “How does it work? Where do you harvest it?”

Cloud rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, uh… You’ve got to, sort of, push your energy into it, in order to cast anything I mean. But it's pretty hard for non-SOLDIERs. It takes a lot of energy. Usually other species like the Cetra are better at it than humans, but… You don’t have any of those here. We get mako at the Mako Reactors, but the best materia will spawn naturally.”

Bruce seemed like he wanted to ask more questions, but after glancing at the materia again he asked, “Mind if I try it out?”

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “Go ahead.”

Bruce closed his eyes, concentrating. His hand clenched around the materia tightly. Even after waiting a few minutes, nothing happened. Bruce opened his eyes, clearly disappointed, but Cloud, in a rare moment of higher spirits, chuckled.

Bruce disappointedly handed him back the materia. He regarded Cloud’s face curiously. “I don’t think I’ve seen you smile since I met you.”

Cloud slotted the materia. “There wasn’t a lot to smile about.” He paused, “You hear about Coulson?”

Bruce wrung his hands and shook his head. “Yeah. It’s a real shame.”

“...Are you feeling better now?” Cloud asked awkwardly. Bruce smiled. “Yeah. The big guy’s a little calmer than usual for some reason.” He turned to stare at Cloud, sincere gratitude in his eyes. “It’s good to know I’ve got someone who can put me down.”

Cloud flushed slightly at the thanks before gaining a more serious expression. “It’s nothing. I know how it feels to lose control, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

He got up and put his sword harness back on. “I’m sure Fury wants us at the bridge.”

Bruce rolled off the bed. “Let’s go.”

Cloud glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Maybe put a shirt on first.”

Bruce looked down, as though he were entirely unaware he was shirtless. “...Right.”


	10. New York City, Baby! What do you mean, ‘Where’s that’?

“Sometimes there isn’t a way out, Tony.” Rogers tried to reason.

Tony didn’t want to hear it. He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see Mr. Star-Spangled start preaching. “Right. I’ve heard that before.” The hanger that was meant to contain The Hulk was now empty, of both cage and all life besides them. Coulson’s blood was already gone.

Tony was angry at Coulson for what he had done, but he was even angrier with himself. Despite what he had said to Cloud, and what Cloud had said to him, he _was_ upset that he hadn’t been able to save him, not that he would admit it to the Capsicle. There _had_ to have been some way for him to find a work-around, to have stopped Loki.

“Is this the first time you lost a soldier?” Rogers asked, face as cold as the metal beneath their feet.

“We are _not_ soldiers.” Tony replied, getting angrier by the minute. Rogers didn’t change his expression.

“Look, I’m not marching to Fury’s fife. We both know he’s got ulterior motives.”

Steve met his gaze. “Yes, we do. But that doesn’t change the fact that we have to put that behind us and get this _done_.”

Tony rapped his fingers on his arm, until it hit him like a ton of bricks. “Loki made this personal.”

“That’s not the point-”

“No, no, that _is_ the point. That’s Loki’s point.” Tony’s mind was working at a hundred miles per hour. “He hit us all, right where we live, but _why_?”

Rogers was catching on. “To tear us apart.”

“Right, right, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right?” Understanding seemed to dawn in Rogers’ eyes as Tony slowly puzzled out the solution. “That’s what he wants. He wants to beat us, but he needs to be seen doing it.”

Rogers rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “An audience.”

Tony began to pace. _Loki’s ultimate goal is to draw some sort of attention, and with everything that’s happened with the Tesseract, I’m willing to bet it won’t be the friendly kind._ “Germany was just the opening night. The intel we got may have even been his doing.”

He turned to Rogers, eyes wide. “That was just a _preview_. This is going to be opening night.”

But where, but where? Tony paced up and down the stairs, hands clasped behind his back and mind whirling like a well-oiled machine. “Loki is a full-tilt diva, right?”

Rogers nodded, clearly a little dumbfounded.

“He’ll want flowers, he’ll want parades, he’ll want a monument with his name plastered on it built to the sky-”

Tony stopped pacing. “Son of a bitch.”

\---

A storm was brewing outside. _Thor’s out._ Tony was welding his creepy mask back into its proper shape, since it had apparently been dented in several places while he and Steve had repaired the engine. Cloud thought it was a miracle Tony’s brain was intact. He had offered to help him repair it but Tony seemed scandalized he would even think of touching his armor. Cloud really couldn’t fault him for that. He got the same way with Fenrir.

Clint had rejoined the team with a minor concussion, Steve was suiting up, Bruce was coming with them to bring the The Hulk (despite Fury’s thoughts on the matter), and Natasha was charging up a pair of gloves for close quarters combat. Cloud would have to ask her later, to see if he could get a pair for Tifa.

Tony had figured out that the location of Loki’s next attack would be New York City. From what Cloud understood, that was basically this world’s version of Midgar, a bustling metropolis and economic center of the world. The key difference was that this place hadn’t degraded yet, and the Avengers were going to make sure it stayed that way.

Cloud finished cleaning First Tsurugi and reassembled it. Steve entered through the door on Cloud’s right. His eyebrows rose steadily higher the more pieces Cloud put together.

“And you can seriously swing that thing?”

Cloud smirked, swinging First Tsurugi in a victory pose before sheathing it. Steve ducked to miss it, grinning at the admittedly impressive feat of strength.

“We should have a spar some time. You’d probably be a little bit better partner than a punching bag.”

Cloud raised a hand to his mouth, but he was still pretty sure Steve caught his eyes crinkling up in the corners. 

“What?” Steve asked, as though he didn’t know.

Cloud lowered his hand, but the ghost of a smile was on his face. “Only a little?”

Steve laughed and clapped him on the back. “Everyone is suited up. Let’s go.”

Cloud shied away from the contact, but, surprisingly, he was finding that he didn’t mind spending more time with these people. He still wanted to see his friends back home, of course, but he was _happy_ . It was so _weird_ to feel comfortable with people other than AVALANCHE.

\---

Barton piloted the stolen jet while Stark flew outside. Rogers, Strife, and Romanoff would be sitting in the back, relaxed yet still on guard. 

Fury knew this, and watched their departure from the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft from the glass floor beneath his feet. Agent Hill was next to him, her face still bloody from fighting off Loki’s men. She had her arms crossed, stern face made even more severe by the slowly purpling bruises. She wasn’t happy.

“Those were in Phil Coulson’s locker, not his jacket.” She notified him, as if he hadn’t gone there himself to wipe blood on them.

Fury didn’t respond at first, slowly shuffling the red-dyed trading cards in his hands. “They needed a push.”

Agent Hill turned away.

“Get our communications back up, whatever you have to do. They found him.”

\---

Tony soon outstripped the small jet flying beside him, pushing his thrusters to max as he raced to Stark Tower. That was _his_ tower damnit, he was not going to let Loki use it to summon aliens.

Dr. Selvig was priming up the portal, the Tesseract spinning faster and faster as the energy built up. 

“I have shut off the Arc Reactor,” Jarvis informed him, “But it is already self-sustaining.”

“Great.” Tony muttered. He lowered himself down in the air until he was just above Selvig’s head. “I’m gonna have to ask you to stop that thing.”

Selvig’s eyes were dark, unfathomable galaxies of emptiness. “We can’t stop now!” He cried, “It wants to show us something!”

Tony shrugged. “Alright.” He fired a blaster at the machine, but his blast was magnified and sent right back at him by a sudden blue forcefield. Tony spun upside down in the air, fighting for balance even as the damaged Mark 6’s leg thruster went out momentarily. 

“The barrier is pure energy,” Jarvis explained, “It is unbreachable.”

“Yeah, I got that.” Tony blinked the stars out of his eyes, refocusing to see Loki below him, waiting smugly on the balcony of Stark towers. “And we gotta beat _him_.”

“The Mark 7 is not yet ready for deployment-”

“Yeah, so skip the spinning rims. We’re on the clock.” Tony landed with a dull thud on the roof of Stark Industries, keeping up eye contact with Loki (who was technically loitering, by the way). His stairs deployed the removal gear, but Tony kept walking as Loki did, Tony’s expression unreadable from the mask and Loki’s from millenia of practice.

They continued their staring match inside, where Tony slid on his usual I-could-care-less face and began mixing a drink behind the bar.

“Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my ‘humanity’.” Loki asked, mouth twisting into a smirk. Tony continued making himself a nice vodka. “Ah, I’m actually planning on threatening you.”

Loki raised an eyebrow, eyes glittering scrupulously. “You should have left your armor on for that.”

Tony finished his drink and drank it like a shot. Loki appeared mildly impressed. “Would you like a drink?” Tony asked.

“Stalling won’t change a thing.”

“No, no, no, threatening.” Tony corrected. “You sure no drink?”

Loki glowered, striding to the window and clasping the glowstick of destiny behind his back. “The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that.” He spun around, green eyes set fire by the sun. “What have I to fear?”

Tony took another sip, placing the glass down on the counter. “The Avengers.”

Loki seemed confused. “That’s what we call ourselves. We’re sort of a team. ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’, well not Earth’s in Cloud’s case, but that’s a,” Tony poured himself another drink, “minor detail, in the grand scheme of things.”

Loki chuckled disbelievingly. “Yes, I’ve met them.” He raised his arms grandly. “Is that the _best_ this planet has to offer?” He shouted at no one in particular.

 _Cool down, crazy man._ “Yeah, I’ll admit it takes us awhile to get any traction, I’ll give you that, but-” Tony gestured towards Loki, “Let’s do a headcount here.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the jet hover on a nearby skyscraper and a dark figure jump out onto the roof. _I swear_ _Storm Sad, you better not pull anything again._

“Your brother, a demigod, two super soldiers, one who’s a living legend, and one who’s from another planet and has apparently killed _god_ , a man with _breathtaking_ anger management issues, a couple of master assassins…And you, big fella,” Tony clipped on his suit-trackers from underneath the counter, “You’ve managed to piss off _every. single. one._ ”

Loki still had that smug smirk on his face. “That was the plan.”

Tony pointed at him. “Not a great plan.” He exited from behind the counter, strolling towards Loki with the rest of his drink in hand, “And when they come- and they will come- they will all be gunning for _you_.”

If Loki was perturbed, he didn’t show it. “I have an army.”

Tony shrugged. “We have a Hulk.”

“What, the beast-”

Tony waved his hands. “No, no, you’re missing the point. There is no throne. There is _no_ version of this where you come out on top.”

“Maybe the army comes, and maybe it’s too much for us, but guess what?” Tony asked, trying to get into Loki’s conniving skull just how utterly fucked he was, “It’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth… you can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.” Tony finished his drink.

Loki stalked towards him, an angry jungle cat about to pounce. “How will your friends have time for me...when they’re so busy fighting you?” He rested the tip of his spear on Tony’s chest.

It hit with a dull _clang_. Tony raised his eyes to Loki’s face, trying to pretend to be shocked. Loki’s face was utter confusion. He tapped Tony’s chest a couple more times, and each time he came away unsuccessfully his brow furrowed a little deeper. 

“What is _wrong_ with you?!” He bellowed. He grabbed Tony by the neck and threw him across the floor. _Now would be a great time for you to bust in, guys._

Loki hoisted him up by the neck again, one handed. “You will _all_ fall before me!” He snarled, before throwing Tony out of the window.

Tony yelled as the air rushed past him, trying to maneuver his hands in front of his face to protect against stray birds. “Jarvis!” 

He spreadeagled, and to his monumental relief the sound of shattered glass reached his ears for the second time in a minute as Mark 7 deployed. The suit unboxed itself, locking onto the trackers on his wrists in order to position itself accurately. Tony was within the ‘safe’ confines of the suit, and instantly set about orienting his thrusters to slow his fall. He came close to almost burning a few civilian faces, but he managed to upright himself just in time. He set his thrusters to the max and was aiming at Loki’s face within the second.

“Oh, and there’s one other person you pissed off. His name is Phil.”


	11. Let the Battles Begin

The Tesseract finally fully activated, firing a bright blue light at the sky. The light coalesced, spinning faster and faster until suddenly there was a portal in the sky. Almost instantly hundreds of armored warriors flew through the new tear in the sky. The Avengers stared up in horror as Loki’s claims of an army came true.

Steve was the first one to shake off his awe. “Clint, keep going!” He ordered. The jet stayed steady.

Tony was already flying up to the portal, firing at the aliens with both blasters and missles, but already there were simply too many. The Chitauri that weren’t killed, burned, or maimed let out a battle cry, and the destruction of New York City began.

\---

Loki watched the Chitauri invasion with nothing less than a chest full of pride. His armor materialized, glowing golden in the midday Earthen sun. This was _his_ plan, come into fruition. The humans were so _petty_ beneath him, their screams like a chorus, glorifying his rise to power. Earth didn’t stand a chance, no matter what Stark said. It never had.

Cars went flying through the air, mimicking the body parts of civilians. An arm, a leg, even a head, occasionally. Glass was blown out of quaint little cafes and the great buildings that reached the sky, monuments to human greatness, were already toppling, mountains of dust rising in their stead, blocking out the continually fading sunlight as the Chitauri continued their descent onto Earth. Loki soaked it all in with a smile on his face. 

“I guess you like what you see.” A soft voice spoke behind him. The familiar hard edge, however, tipped him off to who it was.

“Strife?” Loki turned, sweeping his robes grandly, “What are you doing here? Do you _honestly_ believe you can take me on alone?”

“I know I can,” was the response.

Loki laughed, bringing his spear in front of him. He was willing to play around. Besides, Strife was the most...interesting one of the bunch. He sensed something of a kindred spirit in him.

Strife gave him no time to say anything else as he charged. His body was glowing blue, a strange phenomena Loki hadn’t seen in millenia, and that was how he knew this was going to be _fun_. Loki parried the sword with his spear, leaping out of reach as Strife followed up with a side swing. 

“Where’s the rest of the team, Strife? Are you charging off all alone again?”

Strife hefted that massive sword of his above his head and brought it down on Loki’s helmet, or what he thought was Loki’s helmet. The illusion disappeared as soon as his blade connected, but instead of stopping like last time, Strife merely flipped over the blade, pulled it out from the ground, and performed a wide swing around himself to ward off Loki’s follow-up attack. Loki leapt out of reach just in time and fired a blast from his spear, but Strife rolled out of the way in a whirl of black. The next blast was blocked by Strife’s sword, and Strife hit the follow-up blast away and jumped, bringing the sword over his head once more. Unfortunately for Loki, Strife’s blow connected, and he was thrown back by the waves of energy that poured out of the sword. The blade beams cut through the metal floor like it was made of butter, but for Loki’s body they caused only deep scratches. Loki spat the blood out of his mouth as Strife circled him, blue eyes sharp as cut glass.

“Ever the lone wolf, aren’t you, Strife? I can’t _believe_ you left them out there to die.” Loki spat.

Strife let out a battle cry, but his rage clouded his mind, giving Loki the perfect opportunity to fire a blast into his chest. Much to Loki’s surprise, the light did not disintegrate Strife on first contact. Instead, it merely burned through the cloth, causing a circular singe on his chest that was already disappearing. 

Loki raised a brow as Strife recovered his breath. “You _surely_ aren’t human?”

Strife raised his sword again. “No.” His eyes were steel. “I’m your worst nightmare.”

\---

Thor crashed through the remaining glass window of Stark tower, hammer crackling with electricity as he flew between Cloud and Loki. 

“Enough!” He yelled. 

Cloud narrowed his eyes at him. “I’ve got to finish this, Thor. For Coulson.”

Thor blocked his view of Loki, towering over even his broadsword. “Cloud, I will take care of my brother.” Cloud looked like he wanted to protest, but Thor nodded his head towards the window. “They need you.”

Cloud’s grip on his sword tightened, but after a few more moments of silence he relented. “Fine.”

But before he left, he vaulted over Thor’s head, raising his sword to block a strike from Loki. Cloud pushed off Loki, fired an ice spell at him, and quickly glanced at Thor. “Watch your back,” was all he said before running towards the stairs.

The doorway swung closed. Thor relaxed his grip on Mjolnir and turned to look mournfully at Loki. “Brother, I do not want to fight you.”

“Oh, now you change your mind?” Loki snarled, watching Cloud leave with a note of disappointment in his eyes, “I don’t recall you _ever_ being _this_ nice.” He didn’t meet Thor’s eyes, instead turning to look at the destruction outside. “There is no peace anymore, brother.” He glowered at him. “There is only war.” 

Thor gritted his teeth. “So be it!”

Loki dodged his first strike, firing a blast from his spear that Thor only just missed. The fight soon turned ugly, with dirty blows exchanged that only siblings would think of, and blow by blow more damage was dealt to Stark tower, until somehow they ended up outside on the now crumbling and dented balcony. Loki blocked another blow from his hammer, causing a rebound that blew off the ‘K’ of Stark tower.

“Loki!” Thor cried, “Why can you not cease your bid for power? Is there truly nothing you desire more than a crown on your head?”

“I used to desire something else, long ago.” Loki growled, “But that time is long gone.”

And the godly clash continued.

\---

Clint struggled to keep the jet aloft, clipping a wing on a nearby building as he failed to keep it straight. It was the one that had already been brutalized by a Chitauri blaster and was now smoking dangerously. 

“Shit!” He swore under his breath, but he knew nothing he did at this point would make a difference in whether or not the jet crashed. He pulled up furiously, trying to even out their landing, but the jet still hit the ground much harder than he would’ve liked. At least they hadn’t hit any civilians.

Steve clapped Bruce on the shoulder in the back as he exited the cargo hold. “Think you can do it?”

Bruce followed him out of the back, Clint and Natasha right behind him. “I’ll know it soon enough.” Bruce supplied unhelpfully.

Clint nocked a few arrows, firing at a couple nearby Chitauri. They screeched as their armor was pierced, but their odd vehicles continued onward even as they themselves fell off. “You better tell that other guy to get his ass in gear. We can’t wait around all day.”

He ducked as a car spun over his head, over a hundred Chitauri following behind it. Clint’s eyes found Stark, now ‘Star’ tower, the centerpiece in the whole mess. “We’ve got to get back up there.”

They agreed, but before any progress was made, a giant armored centipede-like _thing_ descended from the sky. It screamed something unholy, weaving through the air and gnashing its great teeth like a paper shredder. God knew anything that ended up in there would look less like a human and more like pieces of bloody tissue.

To make matters worse, spidery Chitauri warriors began bursting out of hollows in its side, claws sharp enough to cut through concrete and round, awful heads glistening from thinly-stretched sinew.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Steve cried.

Natasha shook her head, face stony as ever. “We’ve got to take it out.”

“How?!” Bruce stared, wide-eyed.

“Leave that to us,” Clint told him, “You work on summoning big, green and nasty.”

“He’s not a demon!” Bruce yelled, before mumbling, “Well, maybe he is.”

But Clint was already gone.

\---

“Loki!” Thor pleaded, fine golden hair now slick with sweat, “Look around you! Look at this madness! Do you truly think this will end in your rule?”

The city was already alight, buildings on fire and those once living laying face down in the street, unmoving.

Loki had felt pride, at first. After all, this was his doing. This was going to be _his_ kingdom to rule, his and his alone. But… The Chitauri weren’t being controlled in their destruction. And Loki knew they wouldn’t be. Not by him.

“It’s too late,” He finally declared, “It’s too late to stop it.”

“No,” Thor urged, “Loki, we can stop it together-”

Loki would hear no more. He dug his ever present dagger into Thor’s side, and his brother recoiled and stumbled back, clutching the wound as ichor slowly began to leak. Loki stepped away. That feeling was gnawing at him, but he pushed it down and ignored it. He had to continue on this path. He must.

“Loki,” Thor called desperately to his back, “I don’t care where you came from. You will always be my brother.”

Loki sneered at him. Whatever it was _hurt._ He needed to be rid of it. “And it’s much too late for sentimentality.”

He jumped off the side of Stark tower into a waiting Chitauri transport, leaving Thor frustrated, but most of all, disappointed.

\---

Steve looked up as Loki flew over his head, discharging shots of energy into the street and into civilians. Romanoff fired at a few stray Chitauri, but she had to quickly duck back down again before she was hit by a transport. Steve glanced behind him at the carnage, an itch in his skin that screamed at him to do his job as Captain America coming to life.

A group of Chitauri came marching down the street, deadly weapons firing at anything and everything that moved. He turned to Hawkeye, “Think you can hold them off?” 

Hawkeye smirked. “Captain, it’d be my pleasure.” He quipped, saluting. 

Steve didn’t stay to watch the show. He had people to save.

As soon as he dodged out of their makeshift shelter he was besieged by the Chitauri lasers. He jumped onto a nearby bus, the explosions from the blasts nipping at his heels, rolling to avoid the flying shrapnel behind him. He dropped onto a car but was launched into the air as even that exploded under his feet. Steve curled to absorb impact as he hit the asphalt of the street, but wasted no time as another laser was fired behind him.

His journey throughout the rest of the destroyed roads was similar, but with quite a few more civilians in need of aid. He helped those closest to him evacuate to the nearest building, picking up children as they fell and scraped their knees, helping the elderly into shelters and advising the remainder to help the others or find somewhere to shelter.

But he wasn’t watching his back, and nearly got skewered by a laser fired from behind. Fortunately it was deflected by a large broadsword into a nearby wall instead of his spine, the wielder turning to stand back to back with him.

“Hulk’s out,” was the only greeting he got.

“Nice of you to show up.” Steve countered.

Cloud sighed, blocking another Chitauri shot. “How’re the others?”

“Fine,” Steve informed him, raising his shield to rebound yet another shot, “They’re back there.”

“You seemed like you needed the help,” Cloud commented, casting a couple lightning spells at nearby Chitauri. They fell to the ground, burnt crispy.

Steve shrugged, keeping up his defense to deflect debris from a nearby blast, “If you can keep up.”

“Then let’s mosey,” Cloud responded confidently.

They set off down the street, enhanced speed allowing for much faster travel. Steve paused to speak with some police officers about evacuation, but Cloud continued forwards, glowing eyes shining brightly as he searched for Loki in the chaos. Steve quickly caught up with him and with only a glance they split up, searching for the giant worm.  
  


Ironman had it’s attention diverted, focus completely zeroed in on him. Steve reached him through the comm link as he flew above his head, the giant centipede not far behind. “What’s the plan?”

Tony’s voice came through strained. “You tell me, Cap.”

The thing was quite literally nipping at his heels, the thrusters on Ironman’s suit just barely enough to keep Tony away from the worm’s maw. Steve followed them from the ground, trying to look for weak spots, chinks in the armor, but so far he hadn’t had much luck. He suddenly froze, squinting at the sky. “Tony, look at the sky,” He urged hurriedly.

Ironman fired a couple blasts before circling around. “I’m a little busy here- oh.”

A giant comet soaring through the sky, straight towards New York City. Steve cursed, “As if we didn’t have enough-”

“Calm down,” came Cloud’s cool voice from the comm link, “It’s mine.”

Tony’s panicked voice patched through, “Oh, that makes me feel _so_ much better-”

“It will only target this worm,” Cloud continued, “What you need to worry about is getting out of the impact zone.”

“Right, right, because that’s so easy when this thing is on my tail. Wait, did you say _this_ worm?”

“There’s more throughout the city. I think Hulk and Thor got another one.”

Cloud emerged from the other side of the street and Steve couldn’t help but stare at him in concern. He was looking much, much more haggard than the last time Steve had seen him. _Is_ _casting a spell like that really so draining?_ Cloud’s hair was matted and his skin had a shiny sheen to it, and he was leaning heavily against the wall. Still, he hefted his sword and with a yell of fury he launched himself at the worm, lodging his blade in its side. He hung on to the hilt before swinging himself up on top of it, where he promptly split the blade into three pieces. Cloud stood on the broadest sword, flailing and struggling to stay balanced on the fairly thin edge, before he took the other two pieces into his hands and began to climb, using them as stepping stools, presumably trying to reach its head. 

“That man,” Tony said through the link, clearly impressed, “is veritably insane.”

“I heard that.”

“That doesn’t make it untrue.”

Cloud didn’t respond, whether to ignore Tony or to focus on his climb, Steve wasn’t sure. 

“Tony, get out of there. Cloud’s distracting it.” Steve reminded him. 

“Right.”

Ironman flew away from the worm and the creature didn’t give chase, too busy nipping at the black swordsman on its side.

Ironman hovered above Steve as he connected to Romanoff and Barton. Thor didn’t have a link and The Hulk wouldn’t listen anyway. “How’s it going on your end?”

Romanoff was breathing heavily, but she didn’t seem hurt. “We finished evac in this area, but Loki’s forces aren’t receding. We’ve got to get to him if we want to have any hope of stopping this.”

“Agreed,” said Barton.

“Right,” Steve concluded, “The new mission objective is to get Loki. You got that Tony?”

“Yep,” and with that he was off.

\---

Natasha clambered onto the back of the Chitauri transport, fighting against the wind whistling past her and gravity trying to pull her back down. She got a leg up, and was then able to roll underneath the nearest Chitauri’s legs. Before it could even look down she had shot a hole through its skull and kicked it off the side. She yelled as she landed on the back of the driver, driving two tiny throwing knives into the creatures back.

“Drive!” she urged the thing, pulling it roughly to the side so they wouldn’t crash into yet another freshly crumbling building. 

“Shit-” She yelled, ducking down as the sounds of other transports picked up behind her. Lasers flew by her head, and she was only _just_ able to avoid them by yanking the Chitauri underneath her like a frantic puppet. Some fancy flying got rid of most of her pursuers, but a much more accurate shot from behind grazed her ear. Blood would’ve started dripping if the heat hadn’t instantly cauterized the wound.

“Who…?” Natasha hissed, glancing behind her. “Oh, you.”

Her maneuvers might’ve worked against the simple-minded Chitauri, but against Loki it would be nothing short of useless. She would need backup.

“Hawkeye!” She alerted him through the comm. He was camped on the roof of a nearby building, and nodded as she flew past.

“On it.” He affirmed. Hawkeye nocked an arrow, aiming for Loki’s neck, and fired. Loki caught it, meeting his eyes smugly before the arrow exploded in his hand, destroying his transport and throwing him onto the roof of Stark Industries. Natasha rolled off of her own transport, but it continued on ahead without her and crashed into the ‘S’ and ‘T’ of Stark Industries, knocking the giant neon letters into the street below. _Ah well, it looks better this way anyway._

She glanced to the sky before advancing towards the machine powering the portal. Dr. Selvig had blood running down his forehead, and his eyes were unclouded for what was probably the first time in awhile. He was sprawled out by the edge of the roof, mumbling something under his breath, peering down the side of Stark (Now ‘AR’ Industries) tower onto the balcony.

“Doctor…” Natasha worried.

He glanced at her, speaking up more clearly. “The scepter. Loki’s scepter. The energy… The Tesseract can’t fight- you can’t protect against yourself.”

Natasha knelt down, reaching out a hand. “It’s alright Doctor, you didn’t know what you were doing,” she attempted to comfort him.

Dr. Selvig shook his head. “Didn’t know what I was doing?” He shook his head a second time, “I built in a safety to cut the power source.”

Natasha paused. “Loki’s scepter-”

“May be able to close the portal.”

“Where is it?” She asked urgently.

Dr. Selvig nodded to the balcony. “Down there.”

\---

“Director Fury, the Council has made a decision.”

Fury placed his hands behind his back and remained calm. Anyone looking any closer would have realized that the calm was merely a mask for the rage burning in his eye. “I recognize that the Council had made a decision, but given that it is a stupid-ass decision I have elected to _ignore_ it.”

“Director Fury, you are closer than any of our other subs. You scramble that chair-”

“ _That_ is the island of Manhattan, Councilman. Until I’m certain my team can’t hold it I will _not_ order a nuclear strike against a civilian population!” Fury retorted.

“But if we don’t halt it here, we lose everything-” The Councilman attempted to reason.

“If I send that bird out, we already have.”

Unfortunately, Fury alone could not sway their opinions. The Council ordered the strike. Now it was only a matter of time.

\---

_Hulk was furious. Hulk wanted to destroy._

He finished brutalizing the armored worm, utterly destroying it by digging his hands into its skull until the alien bone buckled under his strength and tore free. Hulk wiped the spray of black blood off its face, and grinned a bloody grin when he spotted a new target nearby. He roared, bunching up the muscles in his thighs until there was enough tension that he was able to leap off of the back of the fallen beast and into the path of the comet. Hulk winded back a fist until he could see the flames licking the face of the rock, and then he _punched._

The giant comet shattered under his strength, launching stone debris across the entire city. Hulk crashed back into pavement, but quickly picked himself up to shout angrily at the fire dissipating into the sky. He lumbered away, looking for something or someone fun to toy with.

 _There._ Blonde, black clothes, large sword - _Him_. The man saw him and his eyes might have widened, but he was given no time to react.

Hulk ran, scooped him up, and launched him into the nearest building. He chuckled at the blood spray. The man fell out of the side of the building, glowing blue but completely limp. Hulk grabbed him by the leg and swung him, around and around and around, then let him go, watching with something akin to amusement as he flew into the distance. But now The Hulk frowned. Who was he going to fight?

So The Hulk followed, trampling cars and ruining concrete as he searched for his prey. He caught sight of a black battleskirt flapping in the wind. _The tower?_

Hulk climbed to the top floor, pulling out chunks of metal during his ascent. He salivated at the thought of throwing the blonde man around some more, tongue lolling out with green spit even as his eyes lost focus, focused on his daydream. _Break more bones, crush more organs, destroy, destroy, destroy._

Hulk launched himself through the shattered glass of the window of the top floor of Stark Industries, immeasurably disappointed when instead of blond his prey’s hair was black. It would make no difference, in the end.

Hulk smashed the floor, lumbering forward, growling loudly as he advanced. He slammed a fist into the man, sending him flying into the shattered glass. Surprisingly, the man picked himself up. His expression was furious.

“Enough!” He shouted, “I am a _god_ , you dull creature!”

Hulk may have been simple-minded and singularly focused, but he wasn’t stupid. He narrowed his eyes at the one who dared stand before him. 

“Puny god,” Hulk growled, before picking him up by the legs and slamming him into the floor like a sack of potatoes. Many, many, times.

He wouldn’t be insulting anyone for a long, long time.

\---

Tony was sure some parts of Cloud’s comet got into pieces of his armor, because otherwise there was no way his readings could possibly be correct. “Jarvis…?” he urged.

“That is a thermonuclear missile, sir.” 

Tony sighed. “Thought so.”

His comm link suddenly came to life as he narrowly dodge the armored worm that erupted from a building behind him. 

“ _Stark? Stark, can you hear me?_ ” Fury’s voice came crackling through. “ _You have a missle headed straight for the city._ ”

Tony narrowly dodged an alien club thrown at him from the side, weaving between Chitauri transports as he ascended. “How long?”

“ _Three minutes._ ”

Tony cursed. “Jarvis, put everything we got into the thrusters.”

Tony saw Natasha holding Loki’s scepter lining it up to the Tesseract while Dr. Selvig typed furiously on the linked laptop. He turned, adjusted his flight path, headed to intersect the nuke.

Her voice soon came through the comm link, garbled from the Tesseract’s power but still audible. “Does anyone copy? I can shut the portal down! I repeat, I can shut the portal down!”

“Do it!” Steve ordered.

“No, wait,” Tony interrupted.

“What?”

“I’ve got a nuke incoming, it’ll blow in a minute.” 

Tony reached the missile as it flew past him, and wheeled around to give chase. “And I know just where to put it.”

\---

Cloud came too with a groan and a head full of fluff. He slowly sat up, cradling his face in a hand as he assessed his injuries. His pants were torn, the cape gone, and his hair was matted with blood. It seemed the mako had repaired most of the internal damage, but he idly wondered if it could even repair bones shattered into tiny fragments, which is what he assumed Hulk had done to him. His leg hurt like a bitch.

He carefully staggered upwards, stumbling a bit while trying to regain his balance. Tsurugi was glinting in the ceiling, but the rest of Stark Industries top floor was utterly decimated. 

“Your healing may even be superior to a god’s.” A voice spoke beside him.

Cloud turned his head to see none other than Loki, who was staring at the sky outside like it held the secrets of the universe, which, to be fair, at this point it might as well have. Outer space was a strange place. Cloud stepped over him, placing his hands on his hips. The once ‘mighty’ Loki looked downright pathetic.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t cast Ultima on you right now.”

Despite the fact that he looked like shit, Loki still managed to pull off the smug smirk. “First off, it’d probably kill you. Secondly, my wonderful charm would be forever lost to you.”

Cloud sighed and pulled Tsurugi down from the ceiling, disassembling and sheathing it quickly. He needed to see how the others were doing, but he was downright exhausted from getting Hulk’d.

“I don’t think that’s something I would miss.”

Loki raised an eyebrow from his position on the floor, but he made no threatening moves. “Wouldn’t you?”

Cloud may have a grudge against him, but he wasn’t prepared to be an executioner today. And he was unfortunately Thor’s brother. “I’m not leaving you here. Get up.”

“...I don’t think I can.” Loki admitted.

Cloud rubbed the bridge of his nose, inadvertently smearing more blood across his face. Loki was staring at him, a strange expression on his face.

“... _What?_ ” Cloud asked tiredly.

“...You’re even more beautiful _after_ a fight.”

Cloud rolled his eyes, said nothing, and dragged Loki down the stairs of Stark tower by his stupid green cape.

He met Steve and Thor at the bottom of the tower, deactivated Chitauri warriors laying limply around them. They were staring at the sky worriedly. 

“Hey,” Cloud greeted. They glanced at him, but kept their attention to the sky.

He tossed Loki to Thor. “Here.” Thor nodded at him and took his brother under his arm. Loki stayed uncharacteristically quiet.

Cloud scanned the group, carefully assessing everyone for injuries. Nobody seemed too badly hurt, but they could do with a cure or two.

“Where’s Natasha? Tony?” Cloud questioned.

“Romanov is up top on the building. Tony is…” Steve pointed up, and Cloud joined everyone in staring at the sky. The portal was still swirling, but it seemed to be closing ever so slowly. Something like terror clenched his heart. 

“...Stark’s in there?” Cloud needed confirmation.

The answer was a somber nod.

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the swirling portal. “Damn.” He hissed. He wouldn’t lose anybody else. He couldn’t.

Like a bolt of lightning, something grew inside the portal. It was an impossibly bright light, flowering outward and expanding rapidly. Nobody spoke as the portal disappeared from view. Cloud squinted, but eventually even he had to squeeze his eyes shut against the light.

“What _is_ that?” He yelled over the wind. It reminded him of the Sister Ray in Midgar, something so powerful it was made of light itself. If this world had something similar, they had to be at least, or from what he had seen, possibly even more advanced than his own.

“A nuclear bomb.” Steve responded. “The most terrible weapon on Earth.”

Cloud heard it before he opened his eyes. A whistling on the wind, something falling down hard, fast. Tony.

“Everybody move!” He suddenly yelled. They jumped back, startled, as Tony Stark fell back to Earth and crashed in the center of their little circle. Cloud instantly knelt over him, ignoring the heat emanating off his suit and burning the flesh of his hands. He had lost his gloves sometime during the scuffle with the Hulk.

“Stark? Tony? Can you hear me?” Cloud asked urgently as he tried to pull off Tony’s helmet. The thing wouldn’t budge, even when he tugged harder, so he ended up just slightly crushing the metal in his hands and carefully pulling it off, piece by piece.

The center of Tony’s suit was dim, and Cloud bit his lip as he felt along his sword for the proper materia. He _knew_ he had a Cure, he had come _prepared_. He was pretty sure nobody else had any healing items on them, so Tony’s life was essentially in his hands. He couldn’t fail. He refused to.

He found the Cure materia, eyes widening in relief. It would probably knock him out, but he had to do this. 

“Cure3.” And as he spoke it into existence he felt the remnants of his MP reserves leave him. He collapsed sideways next to Tony, but before he hit the pavement Steve caught him and laid him out gently. Cloud’s head was pounding, but he was swamped with relief as Tony jolted once, twice, and slowly sat up, shaking his head confusedly.

“Did I do it?” Cloud asked no one in particular.

“Yeah,” somebody answered gently, “you did.”

He slipped into unconsciousness, unaware of the relieved smile tugging on his lips.


	12. So this is Goodbye (for now)

Cloud woke up staring at the now portal-less sky. His teammates were crowded around him, but they were paying attention to Loki, who pronounced gravely, “I think he’s dead.”

Cloud pushed himself up, unconsciously trying to wipe the blood and dust out of his matted hair. “No, I’m not.” He declared halfheartedly.

Loki laughed while the team glared at him. “I am proven incorrect.”

Tony extended a hand to him and pulled him to his feet. Cloud brushed the rest of the dirt off of his clothing and stretched to remove the tension from his muscles.

“Now that weatherboy here is awake, I have a suggestion.” Tony announced.

“Oh yeah?” Steve asked.

“Yep. Listen, there is a great shawarma joint right down the street here…”

\---

Thor tied Loki up in the corner and they ate the meal in comfortable silence.

\---

Fury crossed his arms as he once again confronted the Council.

“Where is the Tesseract?” The Councilman questioned.

“Where it belongs,” Fury answered, “Out of our reach.”

“That’s not your call.”

“I didn’t make it.” Fury retorted, “I just didn’t argue with the god that did.”

\---

It was decided that Cloud could accompany Thor and Loki on their return trip to Asgard. Thor would drop Loki off in a cell while Cloud would stay on Asgard until the Bifrost bridge was rebuilt, then return home.

Cloud crossed his arms as he regarded his friends sadly. He wouldn’t miss this planet, but he admitted to himself that he would probably miss them. It was time to say his goodbyes.

Bruce was the first to step up. He smiled and Cloud and reached out a hand. Cloud shook it firmly. Bruce met his eyes, but looked away quickly, his smile turned rueful. “I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t really want you to leave. It was nice knowing there was somebody who could stop me.”

Cloud shrugged. “Well, he beat me last time. I think it depends on the situation.”

Bruce laughed. “All the same… I’m gonna miss you.”

Cloud nodded. “Same here.”

Clint followed, also offering a handshake. Cloud took it. They didn’t exchange any words, merely respectful nods for a job well done.

Natasha was next. She crossed her arms, a playful smile on her face. “I remember what you did for me. I’m not the type to easily forget debts.” She punched him on the shoulder. “You ever come back to Earth, give me call. I’m sure I could set you up with something.”

Cloud chuckled, quickly cover it up with a cough. “Duly noted.”

Tony hadn’t been present for most of the exchanges, and he arrived in that fashionably late way Cloud was coming to associate with him. Or, had been coming to associate with him. _Dear Gaia, will I actually miss him?_

Tony handed him a drink and a paper bag. Cloud didn’t even have to look. He knew they were coffee and donuts, he could smell the pleasant aroma wafting off them in waves. At his confused expression Tony shrugged and quickly explained, “I wasn’t sure what you have on your world or what S.H.I.E.L.D. let you eat while you were here. Figured I get you a nice goodbye present from a shop I like down on 39th street.”

Cloud clenched his fingers more tightly around the gifts, but remained careful not to break them. “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

Tony waved dismissively. “It’s nothing. You did kind of bring me back from the dead.”

Cloud furrowed his brow. “You weren’t actually dead, the spell wouldn’t have worked-“

Tony patted him on the shoulder. “It’s the thought that counts.”

Steve was the last one. Cloud would be traveling with Thor, so he would say his goodbyes to him on Asgard. _I guess I really am leaving._ It was strange to think about, after having been stranded here for over half a year.

Steve regarded him warmly. Cloud was the one who outstretched his hand this time. “It was nice to meet you.”

Steve shook his hand firmly. “Same here.”

There was a lot they shared. Both super soldiers, both lab experiments, both military men. Both away from where they belonged. Cloud found himself wishing he could have had that spar, but he didn’t want to make Thor impatient. Then he might _actually_ be stuck here for good.

“You… know about loss. I respect that.” Cloud finally said, withdrawing his hand. Steve nodded, face serious yet still kind, in spite of the trials he’d weathered. Cloud hoped he looked like that too.

Cloud stepped back and regarded the group before nodding to Thor. “Alright then. I would say ‘see you soon’ but I’m actually hoping not to,” Gaia please take pity on his social skills, “so... thank you.”

—

The Avengers, now minus two teammates, stared at the place where Cloud had been.

“You know… he was kind of crazy, but I liked that guy.” Tony finally admitted. Bruce rolled his eyes next to him. 

Steve crossed his arms and said nothing. 

Natasha glanced at Clint. “Does Fury know Cloud went with them?”

Clint shrugged. “If he doesn’t, he will soon.”

—

“THAT SON OF A BITCH!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And...Fin! I sincerely hoped you enjoyed. What was your favorite scene? I think mine was the scene after the Loki interrogation. Thoughts? Critiques? Advice? Stay sharp, and have a wonderful day :)
> 
> Edit 7/26/20: Rereading this, I can tell there are scenes missing, aka Natasha talking to Loki and the helicarrier taking flight. There a probably others, but, honestly, I don’t have the energy to write them. If you stuck with me and this story so far, thank you so much. It seems like a lot of people want me to continue this series, so I’m happy to say that I may write the next part soon.


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